Documenting the drivers, railway workers and passengers on Europe’s third largest rail network during an extraordinary year in which Ukraine defied Russia’s plan to conquer the country
Last modified on Thu 20 Apr 2023 12.42 BST. One is the Ukrainian army. It successfully defended the capital, Kyiv, and has recaptured large swathes of territory seized last year by Moscow in the north-east and south. Another counteroffensive looms. The second – surprisingly, perhaps – is Ukraine’s railway.
Krings, 32, was in Poland last spring when Russia’s all-out attack began. He took photos of refugees as they poured across the border, tens of thousands arriving each day, most of them women and children. In early March he went to Ukraine and documented refugees as they arrived into Lviv’s central station, on refugee trains from the east.He interviewed drivers before they returned to the frontline. “I was inspired by their sheer courage and sense of duty.
“The railway system shows the resilience and confidence of Ukraine as a people. You find this across Ukrainian society,” Krings said. He described the process of editing his pictures as an “emotional ride”. “There are refugees peering out of the windows. They have these looks, filled with grief and loss. Railway workers help them at great personal risk and sacrifice. You see and feel everyone’s pain,” he said.
Serhii, 12, playing cards with another refugee on an evacuation train heading to Lviv from Pokrovsk. Karina , waiting to be carried on an evacuation train and transported to a hospital in Lviv. Karina incurred a severe back injury during a Russian shelling of her village Borivske near Sievierodonetsk. She can only lie faced down.
With airports closed, the railway has a political function as well, delivering important international guests. They include the US president, Joe Biden, who in February dropped inin Kyiv, days before the invasion anniversary. It was a 20-hour trip both ways. Numerous prime ministers and VIPs have used the train including Boris Johnson, Keir Starmer and Bono from U2.
The railway employs 230,000 people. Three hundred have died since the war started, 19 of them while on duty. Working for the state-owned company is seen as a respected profession with stable hours. There are train “families” where several generations do the same job. Previously Krings covered the climate crisis in Africa and the refugee crisis. He is interested, he says, in covering subjects in depth and “humanising” complex geopolitical issues.
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