"Safety rules are written in blood": the war has once again proven this on Ukrainian railways

The Chairman of the Board of “Ukrzaliznytsia” Oleksandr Pertsovskyi reported a painful loss to the railway family: on the night of March 22, 2026, Ilona Vovk was killed. In his post he wrote that the 19-year-old young woman was only beginning her professional path, dreamed of becoming a railway worker, completed an internship and had already made her first full trips.

According to Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, Ilona Vovk was active, genuinely passionate about her work and, after an overseas internship, wanted to work in Ukraine, at “Ukrzaliznytsia”. He emphasized that the company urgently needs such motivated and dedicated young specialists, especially under the constant threats and difficulties of the profession.

Separately, the head of “Ukrzaliznytsia” described the circumstances of that night. He noted that due to enemy strikes on the rolling stock, railway workers were again forced to evacuate passengers so as not to leave people trapped. In particular, an early evacuation on the Prydniprovska Railway saved the crew and passengers after a drone hit a locomotive.

At the same time, on the Odesa Railway, according to Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, a tragic coincidence of circumstances led to an oncoming train fatally striking Ilona Vovk at the very moment she was carrying out an evacuation. The investigation is ongoing, and they are now finding out how one set of circumstances overlapped with another and why the existing safety protocols proved insufficient.

“Ilona Vovk is an extraordinarily painful loss that the railway family suffered this night. The 19-year-old young woman had only just begun her path as a conductor. She dreamed greatly of becoming a railway worker, was proud to have completed an internship and was starting her first full trips. She became very actively involved in our youth railway community – our personnel team noticed her activity and Ilona was selected together with colleagues to undergo an internship in Germany. Everything was ahead of her – she was passionate about her work. After the foreign internship she wanted to work specifically in Ukraine at Ukrzaliznytsia. We were extremely glad that despite all the difficulties of the profession, the constant threats, such energetic and selfless young specialists join us,” – wrote in his post Oleksandr Pertsovskyi.

“…we are dissecting that fateful night of March 22 piece by piece. Enemy strikes on rolling stock force us to evacuate passengers so as not to leave them trapped. However, it is already known and important to say: Ilona acted bravely and at the moment of the tragedy was heading to help the passengers,” – separately wrote Oleksandr Pertsovskyi about the night when passengers had to be rescued during another attack, and about the actions of Ilona Vovk at the critical moment.

In the conclusion of the post, the Chairman of the Board of “Ukrzaliznytsia” stressed that railway safety rules are literally written in blood, and daily work during the war requires adaptation to new threats. He called the cost of keeping services running very painful and appealed to the memory of the deceased conductor, promising to do everything so that her dream and her name are not forgotten.

Earlier we wrote:

• The security situation is affecting connections: several suburban trains were again temporarily canceled in Mykolaiv region
• Security risks change operations: some Ukrzaliznytsia services in Mykolaiv region have been canceled
• A Russian drone struck a train in Mykolaiv: a railway worker was injured
• Passenger transportation between Mykolaiv and Kherson was temporarily organized by buses
• Locomotives under attack: after the RF attack on Mykolaiv region and other regions, Kuleba reported damage to the railway