Iron diplomacy

External media
Images
A conductor showing the dining car[14]
A well-furnished meeting room[14]
The first foreign delegation in transit[14]
Von der Leyen amongst furnishings[16]
Video
Scholz and Draghi in Macron's room[15]

Since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022, Ukraine's airspace has been closed and its roads have become unreliable due to fighting.^[16] As a result, the country has been forced to rely heavily on its rail system for transport, including for humanitarian aid, refugees, weapons, and food for export.^[16][10] As the rail system is crucial in Ukraine's resistance to the invasion, Ukrainian Railways has continued to run despite repeated attacks against the system, such as the attack on Kramatorsk station.^[10] Security has also increased, and Aleksandr Kamyshin, who runs Ukrainian Railways, is now armed and accompanied by two bodyguards, keeps his schedule and location secret, and avoids physical contact with his family.^[10][b]

Diplomats and other world leaders who wish to travel through Ukraine are faced with a similar lack of options, so they regularly take part in Kamyshin's iron diplomacy program.^[16] The train ride takes nearly 10 hours.^[17] Ukraine also provides a security detail for the visiting leaders, and Kamyshin also keeps their travel details secret, but sometimes information ends up being publicized before the delegation has left Ukraine, which increases the risk of an attack.^[16][18]

One of the carriages used in the iron diplomacy program was originally constructed for rich tourists to the Crimean peninsula.^[16][14] Completed in 2014, it was used only a few times before Russia annexed the peninsula early that year.^[14] Recently modernized carriages from the Soviet era have also been used for the iron diplomacy program.^[16] Although most cars have been retrofitted with upscale furnishings to allow visiting leaders to travel comfortably, not all carriages have been refurbished to the same standard.^[16] Discrepancies regarding train car accommodations were noted by the French president Emmanuel Macron, the German chancellor Olaf Scholz, and the Italian prime minister Mario Draghi during their joint trip to Kyiv in June 2022.^[15]

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