Renovated Odesa-Chisinau train crosses the border for the first time

On December 22, border guards at the Mohyliv-Podilskyi railway station cleared the Odesa-Chisinau train, which set off for the capital of Moldova for the first time since the start of the full-scale invasion.

According to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the train will continue to run every other day.

"The resumption of this route is due to the complication of logistics routes near the Ukrainian-Moldovan border in Odesa region as a result of Russian shelling. The launch of the train will ensure stable passenger traffic between Ukraine and Moldova, taking into account the current security situation," the border guards said.

"Earlier, Ukrzaliznytsia also reported that the demand for flights was very high: 60% of the tickets were sold in the first three hours after the opening of the sale. The occupancy rate was 61% from Odesa and 93% from Kyiv. Ticket sales from Odesa were opened on a daily basis.

"Ukrzaliznytsia assigned an additional group of railcars to Chisinau from Odesa and Kyiv, with tickets going on sale for dates starting on December 20. This was in response to the difficulty of crossing the Moldovan border by other means of transport following the Russian attack on the bridges over the Dniester and the Dniester estuary in Odesa region.

Meanwhile, traffic restrictions in both directions on the M-15 Odesa-Reni highway (to Bucharest) within the village of Mayaki have been lifted.

On December 19, the Defense Council of Odesa Oblast suspended the movement of freight transport on the M-15 Odesa-Reni highway due to Russian air attacks and damage to the bridge over the Dniester River near the village of Mayaki.

In the evening of December 18, during an attack in Odesa region, an enemy attack drone hit a bridge connecting settlements in the area of the Dniester Estuary and also hit a bridge over the Dniester River near the village of Mayaki. There, it hit a civilian car that was crossing the bridge. The car was occupied by a woman with three children. The mother was seriously injured and died in an ambulance. Her three children were taken to the hospital with injuries and acute stress reaction.

Кирило Бойко