Ruslan DIL

On October 29, 2026, the life of a person who dedicated nearly three decades to the railway came to an end.

Ruslan Mykolaiovych was born on June 10, 1978, in the city of Synelnykove, Dnipropetrovsk region. He began his career in the railway sector in August 1996 after graduating from Dnipropetrovsk Vocational Technical School No. 58. He progressed from an assistant locomotive driver to a locomotive driver.

His work period in the Zaporizhzhia region became particularly significant and challenging from the onset of the full-scale invasion. During this extremely difficult time for the country, Ruslan Mykolaiovych was directly involved in transporting evacuation trains, which carried people from dangerous areas, as well as evacuating equipment. Working under the threat of war, he helped ensure the transportation of people and property, fulfilling critical tasks at a time when the railway became a true lifeline for thousands of Ukrainians.

Behind each of these journeys were human destinies, anxiety for the lives of passengers, responsibility for the safety of movement, and the awareness of how crucial it was to deliver people to safer places on time. In the challenging conditions of wartime, Ruslan Mykolaiovych continued to perform his duties, remaining loyal to his profession and railway responsibilities. His work became part of the larger mission of railway workers who, from the very first days of the full-scale war, helped save lives, organized evacuations, and maintained operations where the railway was vital.

The most tragic aspect of this story is that the person who helped others reach safety from the beginning of the full-scale war lost his own life while traveling home by train.

On October 29, 2026, Ruslan Mykolaiovych was on another leave and was returning home. He was traveling by train from the station Zhmerinka to the station Dnipro-Hlavny, from where he was to transfer to an interregional electric train heading to Zaporizhzhia.

At 10:54 AM, an enemy strike hit the railway infrastructure and the train at Dnipro-Hlavny station. As a result of this tragic event, Ruslan Mykolaiovych lost his life.

He was simply returning home. To his loved ones, to his familiar life, to the people who were waiting for him, unaware that this journey would be his last.

The greatest pain of this loss is felt by his family, for whom Ruslan Mykolaiovych was a son, a father, a brother, and a beloved person. He left behind two children: a son, Rostyslav, who is 26 years old, and a daughter, Polina, who is 21. His mother, Tetiana Ivanivna, remains, for whom he will always be her son, the dearest person whose life she will remember from the first breath to the last moment. His sister, Maryna, along with her family, is left with an irreparable grief.

It is impossible to find words that could comfort a mother’s heart. It is impossible to convey the pain of children who have lost their father. It is impossible to fill the void left by the sudden departure of a loved one. There is only memory, love, and pain that does not fade, for with the person goes a part of the family world, shared memories, hopes, and future.

For his colleagues, Ruslan Mykolaiovych will forever remain an experienced railway worker who dedicated many years of his life to his chosen profession. Behind him are years of hard work, challenging days, responsible tasks, and devotion to a cause that became an inseparable part of his life.

A special place in his professional biography will always be held by his work during the full-scale war, when railway workers, risking their own safety, continued to fulfill their mission and help people.

His career is part of the history of our enterprise, and the memory of him will forever remain in the hearts of those who worked alongside him.

Today, we bow our heads in deep sorrow. We share the pain of the family and express our sincere condolences to his mother, Tetiana Ivanivna, his children, Rostyslav and Polina, his sister Maryna, and all the relatives and friends of Ruslan Mykolaiovych.

No words can bring back a person whose life was ruthlessly cut short. But the memory of him remains—in the hearts of his loved ones, in the years of honest work, in good deeds, in the saved lives of those whom the railway helped, and in the people who will remember him not for his last moment but for the entire life he lived. May the light memory of Ruslan Mykolaiovych Dilia forever remain in our hearts.

We mourn together with the family. We share the unspeakable pain of this loss.

Eternal memory.