The politics of reforming Ukraine’s wartime lifeline
Ukraine has a unitary railway system. The state-owned company, Ukrzaliznytsia, has a monopoly on the railways and operates passenger and freight services. This means competition is virtually non-existent. Such a model is not accepted in the European Union.
April 21, 2026 -
Jakub Łoginow
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AnalysisIssue 3 2026Magazine
Illustration by Andrzej Zaręba
In recent years, Ukraine’s railways have become a source of widespread admiration. Despite repeated Russian shelling, they have continued to transport passengers and military equipment efficiently and punctually. They deliver cargo to ports and sustain the functioning of the national economy. Since February 24th 2022, Ukrainian airports have ceased operations, leaving rail connections as the country’s principal link to the outside world. It is by train that key international politicians travel to Kyiv, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself typically begins his foreign visits with a rail journey to the Polish airport at Rzeszów-Jasionka.
Ukrainian railways are also efficiently evacuating civilians and wounded soldiers from frontline towns, and the heroism of the railway workers is widely recognized. In this situation, the need to carry out far-reaching reform of Ukrainian railways in order to introduce European standards has been causing widespread controversy in the country. Such reforms would entail splitting Ukrzaliznytsia into three separate companies and a complete overhaul of the management model.
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European Union, railway, Ukraine, Ukrzaliznytsia
