Nine o’clock at night, the curfew begins in Kiev. The security forces close the doors of the central station and he cannot leave there until six in the morning. They are strict orders and all travelers who arrive in the capital between those hours must stay in the building to sleep.
The luckiest can find a place on a bench, those who are not, must settle for the ground. Russia has asked the citizens of the capital to leave their homes at night and go to the shelters, a message that serves for a station that is a huge refuge for travelers from all over the country.
After a week of fighting, roads are no longer the best way to get around. Caravans, destroyed bridges, checkpoints, lack of gasoline… inconveniences that the railway does not have, which has become the fastest and safest way to travel in a Ukraine at war. The station panel shows the dozens of long-distance and suburban trains that enter and leave.
You have to be exhausted to be able to sleep. Between the public address system, the arrival and departure announcements and the discomfort of the cement floor, only a miracle can make you close your eyes. You can nod off, but you don’t rest. “I’m dreaming of getting home, taking a shower and making myself some tea,” says Natalia, who is traveling from Andreivka, where she has tried unsuccessfully to bring her parents.
This city is very close to Kharkov, where the fighting is heaviest, “but they refuse to leave, they say they want to defend their country by staying at home.” Despite the bombing, the line to Kharkov has not been altered.
Olga wakes up a little before six in the morning and the first thing she does is connect to the news to find out how the night went. “A good sign, if I have slept it is that there have been no explosions, although in any case I believe that this measure of keeping the station as a night shelter is positive for everyone’s safety,” she affirms as she orders her luggage. She is one of the lucky ones who has had a wooden bench. Ukraine moves to the rhythm of its trains, one of the few notes of apparent normality in a country pending Russian troop movements. (
#Trains #stations #shelters #travelers #Ukraine