Overview of the current situation:

The transportation logistics infrastructure in Ukraine is well-developed and organized, covering the four main shipment options – air, sea, surface, and rail. After the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, transportation logistics has been limited mainly to road and rail. No commercial flights take place during the war and sea transportation is de facto blocked by the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. After July 16, 2023, Russian officials announced that no ships were allowed to enter or exit Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea. However, some vessels manage to navigate to and from the Ukrainian ports through the special humanitarian corridors arranged by the Ukrainian armed forces disregarding the ban imposed by Russia.

As of August of 2023, about 109 thousand square kilometres of Ukrainian territory are occupied by Russia and thus not accessible from Ukraine by any means of transport. Active hostilities take place along nearly 1500km of the front making nearby territories unreachable.

The war has damaged all types of Ukrainian logistics infrastructure disrupting the entire industries. For example, the destruction of the Kakhovka dam made river transport on the Dnipro River below the city of Zaporizhzhia impossible.

Road Infrastructure

Roads cover the entire country with a total length of 165,000 km, of which approximately 80% are roads with hard (asphalt) surfaces.

In 2022 the war led to the damage of over 25,000 km of the roads and destruction of over 330 bridges. As the war continues, more infrastructure objects are destroyed.

For many roads, the road surface condition is often below acceptable standard which reduces the speed of the traffic and subsequently increases cargo transit time. Worth noting that unpaved roads, connecting remote village areas are mainly not paved and present potential challenges for access after excessive rains or snowfalls. It is expected that during the war the road infrastructure will continue deteriorating even though some road construction projects take place even during the war.

The very solid bases for government-private transport contracting are established, guaranteeing the access of the private sector to the transportation business, thus, ensuring competitiveness in the market and relatively stabilized market prices.

Railway

Countrywide network (over 2000 stations in the country and geographical distribution between 6 regional branches – Lviv, Donetsk, Odesa, Pivdenna, Pivdenno-Zahidna and Prydniprovska). Large parts of the Donetsk and Prydniprovska railways are occupied and utilized by the Russians mainly for military logistics and the other regions are utilised by passenger traffic.

Ukraine still has a link between seaports and production areas through railways, however, this link is underutilized during the war due to the port blockade. 

During the war, railway logistics plays a crucial role in both military and civil logistics replacing sea and air transportation where it can.