The Ukrainian railway leader who stayed with me.

Oleksandr Shevchenko is one of them.

On 17 November 2022, I interviewed him on stage at the World Passenger Festival in Amsterdam, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He was deputy director of the Passenger Company at Ukrainian Railways at the time.

It is difficult to say what stood out most.

Millions of people. Two hours of sleep.

In his preparation email, he described evacuating four million people by rail in two months, including one million children, as well as 112,000 pets.

That the first months of the war were a blur. Sleeping two hours a night.

That they had supported more than 200 international diplomatic visits. Somehow, even that came with hilarious anecdotes.

These were the figures and experiences he shared during our conversation. Behind them were people trying to keep a railway running through a war.

Any decision is better than indecision.

He described an approach he and his team had adopted: “any decision is better than indecision.”

He explained how that helped them repair shelled bridges in hours rather than months.

Not a slogan on a wall. An approach they used when waiting had consequences.

But the numbers and the speed were only part of what stayed with me.

Humble. Kind. Funny.

His humbleness and kindness.

How positive and funny he was, all things considered.

How he and his team used humour to stay positive.

The audience was deeply touched. So was I.

And then there was the gift.

He had thought to bring me something.

With everything he and his team were dealing with, he had the kindness and clarity of mind to bring me a gift.

A small artwork in the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag. A Czech hedgehog, made from rails.

The full-size version is an anti-tank obstacle made of intersecting steel beams. This one was a small object I could take home.

I had just heard about millions of evacuations, shelled bridges and nights with almost no sleep.

And he had thought of me.

Mind. Blown.

With all of that going on, he had thought to bring me a gift.

Thank you, Oleksandr and team. You are truly amazing and inspiring humans. I wish you all the strength and success in this absurd situation.

My original Instagram post about the interview, and my recollections of the gift. Figures are what he shared at the time, from his preparation email of 11 November 2022, not current totals. Oleksandr’s face is shown with permission.