PREORDER. Book Railways in Ukraine

This photo book reveals how Ukrainian railways shape the country’s landscapes and uncover its often overlooked beauty.

As a mode of passenger service, freight logistics, industrial force, and tourist attraction, railways have always woven regions of Ukraine together. Large-format images by photographer, railway fan, and trainspotter Mykola Oleksiienko not just to observe different trains, tracks, and surrounding scenery — but to reflect on how railways help form the portrait of an entire country. 

How rail lines have long reflected Ukraine’s geography, history, and culture. How railways helped build the biggest industrial centres — and what those places looked like before Russia’s full-scale invasion, with many now occupied or destroyed by the Russians. What and whom the sleek Hyundais and weathered locomotives are carrying, and how railway tracks differ from the mountains to the steppes. How a small railway line, laid between two towns many decades ago, remains deeply woven into the fabric of the country.

This book is the result of years of photographic travels across Ukraine, where Mykola Oleksiienko captured Ukrainian trains and railway tracks from unique perspectives. 

bio

Mykola Oleksiienko is a Ukrainian traveler and photographer, currently serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Born in 1989 in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, Mykola graduated from the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and has been working in IT. 

Since 2010, he’s been traveling across Ukraine with a camera, capturing the beauty of industrial zones, anthropogenic landscapes, railways, and Soviet-era architecture. Mykola wants to shine a spotlight on the under-explored aspects of our material culture and nature.