Voice of Ukraine

From Maia Mikhaluk in Kyiv (550th day): When I was growing up trains were the main form of transportation. I always loved to travel and therefore I loved trains. But I grew up and started traveling internationally and I started hating trains; planes were so much faster! Before the big invasion, I must have not traveled on a train for a couple of decades. Now that ruzzian missiles crowd our skies leaving no room for commercial flights, any kind of international travel has to start with a train ride to Poland. Hungary is another option, but considering how unfriendly Hungary’s position to Ukraine (and how friendly it is to ruzzia), that country is on my personal “black list”.

I am still not a fan of train rides. The noises and jerkiness of travel are bringing out some symptoms of PTSD. I have very hard time sleeping even in a very comfortable compartment.

Over the past few train trips, I had some conversations with train conductors about their experiences of the first days/weeks of invasion. One told me how they were “running a race” evacuating their train and people from occupied territory in the first hours of the invasion. Ruzzian tanks were riding on a road parallel to train tracks, trying to outrun the train to block it. As the train conductor was describing that I could see that in my mind as a movie – a very scary one!

Train conductors have so many stories about those first weeks when tickets were not even sold – if you could get on the train, you would travel. People packed not only in compartments, they sat on the floors – no way to get to the bathroom. People had to stand to make more room. They stood for hours – as long as 36-48 hours! It was women and children, their husbands left behind sobbing on the train station platforms, then turning around and going to territorial defense units to protect their cities from the enemy.

Trains rode without light between stations – there was a concern about targeted bombings of trains. Cell phones had to be shut down to not give away a large gathering of people. At some train stations along the way, volunteers brought bags of sandwiches, water and baby food. Train stops were very short – only enough time to throw into a train car a few big bags of food to help those who were traveling.

At that time, our family spent many hours in the corridor of our apartment, praying for God’s protection and for Briana’s safe arrival. Ruzzians were surrounding Kyiv, and we could hear the sound of artillery on the ground and regular missile strikes, but I think traveling by train in those days was a lot more traumatic.

One Western media called Ukrainian Railway Workers the ‘Second Army’.
Fleeing civilians, visiting dignitaries and military supplies all counted/count on the trains continuing to run.