Europe | The Kyiv-Kramatorsk express is back

Ukrainian Railways reconnects a city scarred by a bombing

The resilience of the network is a wonder

Passengers walk on a platform at a railway station in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region on October 14, 2022 as the Intercity train came to the city after a long break since April due to missile strike on the station, amid Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Anatolii Stepanov / AFP) (Photo by ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images)
|KYIV

KYIV’S CENTRAL train station is a majestic example of Soviet neo-classical architecture, all soaring arches and granite tiles. In the early days of the war thousands of locals desperate to escape Russia’s invasion slept on the floor here, stumbling over each other during air-raid blackouts as they waited for the next train west. Now it hosts happier stories. On October 14th Alina, a young woman holding a bouquet of yellow and blue flowers, was in the main hall waiting to meet her sister, who had fled to Poland. “I haven’t seen her for eight months,” she said, fighting back tears.

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “The Kramatorsk express is back”

Welcome to Britaly

From the October 22nd 2022 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Europe

Participants of the II Black March of Wolyn 1943 are walking through the streets of the city on the 81st anniversary of the Wolyn massacre in Krakow, Poland, on July 11, 2024.

A dispute over old war crimes strains Polish-Ukrainian relations

The beneficiary is Russia

The leader of the far-right Freedom party (FPOe) Herbert Kickl leaves after talks with Austria's President on January 6, 2025 at the presidential Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria

Austria could soon have a first far-right leader since 1945

Herbert Kickl of the Freedom Party could be the next head of government



Europe has lots of lithium, but struggles to get it out of the ground

Its targets for strategic autonomy look hard to meet

Spain’s government marks 50 years since Franco died

Opponents say it is the birth of democracy that should be commemorated

How extremist politics became mainstream in France

Jean-Marie Le Pen paved the way for his daughter, Marine