Propped up in her hospital bed, railway conductor Olha Zolotova speaks slowly and quietly as she talks about the day her train was hit by a Russian drone.
When the Shahed [drone] hit I was covered in rubble. I was in the second car. People pulled me out, she says.
My eyes went dark. There was fire everywhere, everything was burning, my hair caught fire a little. I was trapped.
Olha is a victim of Russia's increasingly frequent attacks on the Ukrainian railway system – vital infrastructure that keeps the country moving three and a half years since Moscow's full-scale invasion.
Ukraine's 21,000km-long (13,000-mile) railway system is not merely a mode of transport; it is a central pillar of Ukraine's war effort and a powerful national symbol of resilience.
Olha's injuries were severe, so she was transported more than 300km (185 miles) to a special hospital in the capital, Kyiv, dedicated to railway workers. She has just had surgery on her hip and a metal plate inserted into her leg.
Her train was hit earlier this month at a station in Shostka in the northern Sumy region. As rescue workers sought to tend to the injured, a second Russian drone struck the station – a type of hit known as a double tap. Ukraine says civilians and rescue teams were directly targeted, which could constitute a possible war crime under international law.
Thirty people in total were hurt. Of those treated in hospital, three were children, and one man was found dead, possibly from a heart attack.
According to national rail operator Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ), there were twice as many attacks in September as there were in August - not just on trains but on the infrastructure that supports the rail network.
In fact, half of the attacks on the railways since the beginning of the war have taken place in the past two months, says Oleksiy Balesta, a deputy minister at the department that oversees the rail network.
Almost every day for the last two months, we have been experiencing targeted attacks on Ukrzaliznytsia infrastructure and on power transmission facilities, he says. Balesta suggests Russia has been hunting for locomotives - deliberately targeting both freight and passenger trains.
Behind the deputy minister is a wrecked locomotive, part of Ukraine's intercity fleet that was targeted in eastern Kyiv on one particularly devastating night at the end of August.
Officials point to two principal factors leading to this intensified spate of attacks: Russia's increasing capacity to produce large numbers of relatively cheap Shahed-type drones, and the near stalemate on the front line shifting the Russian army's focus to disrupting supply lines instead.
Ukrainian officials are concerned that the uptick in attacks on the railway could coincide with interruptions in power infrastructure, potentially making the upcoming winter harder for the population.
In response, UZ is focusing on rapid repairs, military coordination, and maintaining passenger morale by ensuring services continue uninterrupted as much as possible.
As Ukrainians brace for potentially their toughest winter yet, appeals for stronger air defenses grow louder while their resilience remains unwavering.
