Seeing like a train: the viapolitics of emergency mobilities during Russia’s war against Ukraine

The article investigates the role of trains and railway infrastructure in Ukraine as a critical component of the emergency mobility of Ukraine’s population following the Russian full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022. Applying the concept of viapolitics, it explores how the railways became more than just a means of transport during the war, instead symbolising solidarity, struggle, privilege, and hope. The research situates Ukrainian railway mobilities within post-colonial and post-socialist contexts, examining how the infrastructures, rooted in Soviet-era practices, have been repurposed amid military aggression. Drawing on data from news reports, human rights organisations, and personal testimonies, the paper analyses the complex and multifaceted role of rail transport in the war context. The article reveals how emergency mobility, mediated through railways and political action, brings together spatial and temporal dimensions – linking Ukraine’s Soviet past, post-socialist independence, renewed Russian imperialism, and aspirations for a European future. These historical and geopolitical layers intertwine with the population’s self-organisation and resilience, while also colliding within the railway’s diverse vehicular and infrastructural meanings of mobility.