Real break of gauge: Ukraine blows up all tracks to Russia
Ukrainian Railway (UZ) has terminated all relations and cooperation with Russian Railways (RZD). Moreover, the Ukrainian railway undertaking destroyed all the tracks to the neighbouring Russia that started military aggression against Ukraine on 24 February.
On Saturday, 26 February, the rail freight traffic between Ukraine and Russia was finally stopped. This is a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian Railway (Ukrzaliznytsia, UZ) as a national railway undertaking was forced to blow up all the tracks towards the neighbouring country to prevent the possible transport of the Russian tanks to the occupied parts of Ukraine. Such an extraordinary measure was caused by the role of the Russian Railways (RZD) in the military actions of the Russian Armed Forces. Earlier, RZD transported tanks, military trucks and other equipment to the Ukrainian border, namely to Belarus and the annexed Crimea.
At the same time, UZ suspended all the contacts with RZD. The Russian side asked UZ to restore the cross-border traffic but the Ukrainian company categorically refused to do this. “RZD’s request to reconnect with Ukrzaliznytsia had nothing to do with the humanitarian mission, it was a futile attempt to resume the supply of military equipment. They received a response from our dispatcher, this is the position of the whole company,” the railway company stated.