Bomb threats force Ukrainian Railways to halt 3 trains, including international line
Ukrainian Railways received reports of bomb threats on three long-distance trains on Oct. 11, prompting the temporary suspension of service and the evacuation of passengers.
The affected trains included routes between Dnipro and Kyiv, Ternopil and Kyiv, and the international Kyiv–Warsaw route.
Russia has intensified attacks on Ukraine's railway infrastructure as autumn sets in, leading to increasing train delays and cancellations. However, bomb threats of this nature have been rare.
"The trains were forced to stop. Passengers were evacuated and taken to a safe distance," the company reported.
Explosives experts and law enforcement officials conducted thorough inspections of the train carriages but found no explosives. Service resumed shortly afterward, with delays of under an hour.
It remains unclear who was behind the reported bomb threats.
Just a day earlier, Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure caused additional delays and route changes across the Kyiv, Poltava, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts.
Dmytro Zhmailo, a military expert and executive director of the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center, suggested the uptick in attacks on Ukraine's railway system could be linked to recent arms supply agreements with Western partners.
The surge in Russian attacks coincides with the approval of the first arms deliveries under the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL), a mechanism that enables other NATO members to finance U.S. shipments of weapons to Ukraine.
"Our railway is of strategic importance — it is used to transport military aid," Zhmailo told the Kyiv Independent.
