Crane truck driver runs the red signal at Lviv crossing — the train engineer he killed was a war veteran

A war veteran who returned from the front to work as a train engineer was killed on the morning of 1 May when the Kyiv–Uzhhorod train collided with a crane truck whose driver ignored warning signals at a railway crossing near the village of Hirne in Stryi raion, Lviv Oblast, according to Ukrzaliznytsia. His assistant is in the hospital with serious injuries, and the crane-truck driver has also sustained injuries. Passengers were unharmed.

Russia struck Ukraine's railways around 1,200 times in 2025 alone, more than the previous two years combined. Nearly 100 Ukrzaliznytsia workers have been killed since the start of the full-scale invasion. 

What happened at the crossing

Ukrzaliznytsia reported on the morning of 1 May that the crane-truck driver in Lviv Oblast drove onto the railway crossing despite the prohibiting warning signals.

"In Lviv Oblast, the driver of a crane truck drove onto a crossing despite the prohibiting signals and caused a collision with a train. Our engineer died on the spot," the railway company said. 

The assistant engineer was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, and the crane-truck driver was also hospitalized. None of the passengers on the Kyiv–Uzhhorod train was hurt.

 "We ask all drivers: follow the rules at crossings. This is a question of life," it added.

The collision happened near the village of Hirne in Stryi raion, according to Ukraine's State Emergency Service. Rescuers used specialized tools to extract the dead engineer's body from the damaged locomotive. Law enforcement is establishing the causes and circumstances of the incident.

The 1 May collision is the second serious incident on Ukraine's railways in two weeks. On 18 April, a diesel locomotive collided with an Intercity+ passenger train running on the Kyiv–Przemyśl route in Vinnytsia Oblast.

Ukrzaliznytsia says incidents at railway crossings happen mainly because drivers ignore the rules, and the consequences are usually fatal.