First passenger train arrives in Kherson from Kyiv since the start of invasion

A local man awaits the arrival of the first passenger train to come to the liberated Kherson since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, on the morning of Nov. 19. (Iryna Matviyishyn)

The first train arrived in Kherson from Kyiv on the morning of Nov. 19, as Ukraine resumed railway traffic between the capital and the recently liberated southern city.

The overnight sleeper train departed from Kyiv on the evening of Nov. 18, with 200 passengers on board. Some of the train's cars were painted by Ukrainian artists for the occasion. A few top officials took the train, including deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk and culture minister Oleksandr Tkachenko.

Locals await the arrival of the first passenger train to come to the liberated Kherson since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, on the morning of Nov. 19. (Iryna Matviyishyn)

Ukraine liberated Kherson after eight months of occupation on Nov. 11. The Russian troops had to withdraw from the west bank of the Dnipro River, where the city sits, after Ukrainian forces had spent months systematically destroying their logistics with high-precision attacks. 

Recently, the state railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia started selling the so-called “tickets to the victory” to the cities still under Russian occupation, including to Simferopol, the capital of Crimea. The tickets help fund the state railway company amid the war. They can be used after the cities are liberated and the railway connection is resumed with them.