The Federation of Trade Unions of Transport Trade Unions of Ukraine, on behalf of hundreds of thousands of railway workers, seafarers, port workers, road workers, and logistics workers, appeals to the international community with a strong condemnation of another wave of bloody terror.
December 2025 marked an unprecedented escalation of russian attacks on Ukraine's civilian transport system. These were not just strikes on facilities - they were the targeted killing of workers in the line of duty and a deliberate attempt to paralyze global food security.
Only during the latest weeks of December did the world witness russia's deliberate criminal actions:
- December 6 (Fastiv, Kyiv region). About 20 suicide bombers hit passenger infrastructure – the completely destroyed Fastiv station, the suburban depot, 27 suburban rolling stock cars, and the dispatch centre. 46 station employees were taken to shelter in time during the russian attack.
- December 15 (Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions). The enemy hit the Pyatikhatky station. After the shelling of the Odessa region, the Dnipropetrovsk region's contact network was completely de-energized. The aggressor country demonstrates its intention to completely cut off Ukraine from international routes.
- December 18–21 (logistics corridors). Attack on a strategic bridge on the Odesa– Reni highway near the village of Mayaki. The destroyed bridge supplied about 40% of the fuel and lubricants market.
- December 19 (Odesa region). A russian ballistic missile strike on a port infrastructure facility killed 8 people and injured over 30 more. The epicentre of the explosion was a bus carrying shift workers. The killing of civilian logistics workers in the workplace is a gross violation of all international conventions.
- December 22 (Port "Pivdenny"). The enemy attacked the terminals, destroying about 30 containers with food (flour and oil), as well as damaging strategic tanks. This is an open act of piracy and food blackmail of the world, aimed at destabilizing the export of Ukrainian agricultural products.
- December 22 (Korosten, Zhytomyr region). As a result of the detonation of an enemy UAV near the railway tracks, freight cars derailed. Four railway workers were injured, including train drivers who ensured the movement of critical cargo and passengers.
Each such strike is a threat not only to Ukrainians. Ukraine's transport system is an integral part of global logistics chains. By attacking our ports, russia is attacking the right of every person on the planet to access food. By attacking our trains, russia is attacking the safety of passenger and humanitarian transport throughout Europe.
We call on the global trade union community and international organizations to:
- Condemn the systematic deliberate killings of workers. Recognize the actions of the russian federation against Ukrainian transport workers as war crimes against working people.
- Increase pressure on governments. Demand immediate expansion of air defence assistance to Ukraine to protect critical infrastructure transportation hubs.
- Completely isolate the aggressor. Exclude any russian structures from international transport associations and deprive them of voting rights in international regulatory bodies.
- To intensify humanitarian support to eliminate the destruction, as well as to increase assistance to the families of the dead and injured transport workers who keep the "logistics front" under constant fire.
The fourth year of the war - thanks to the workers, transport and logistics traffic continues, the work of ports does not stop. The safety of workers in the workplace must become a priority for the whole world. Terror against civilian infrastructure must be stopped by the force of international unity.
With faith in solidarity and justice
Chairman of the Federation
of Transport Workers' Trade Unions of Ukraine,
Chairman of the Trade Union of Railway
and Transport Construction Workers of Ukraine
Oleksiy SEMERUN’
First Deputy
Chairman of the Federation
of Transport Workers' Trade Unions of Ukraine,
Chairman of the Marine
Transport Workers’ Trade Union of Ukraine
Oleg GRYGORIUK
