Bus drivers and passengers in eastern Ukraine are risking their lives daily on some of the most dangerous routes in the country, with British charities now calling for urgent safe corridors. The plea comes as renewed fighting in the Donbas region intensifies, with shelling and landmines turning routine journeys into a lethal gamble.
For those who depend on public transport to reach work, hospitals, and markets, the alternative is often no journey at all. East of the Dnipro river, bus services operate under constant threat. Many drivers have been killed or injured in the past year while doing a job that, in peacetime, would be mundane. Now, each trip could be their last.
Roads near the front line are often unpaved, potholed by explosions, and laced with munitions. Drivers have no choice but to weave through bombed-out suburbs. The government in Kyiv has struggled to establish secure transport links, leaving private operators to take risks that international safety standards would never permit. One driver, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, told me: 'We do not tell our families when we are going. We just go.'
British charities, including the human rights organisation MapAction and the transport safety charity Brake, are coordinating with local partners to map the most perilous routes and advocate for designated safe corridors. Jonathon Jenkins, a former bus driver from Sheffield who now volunteers with a convoy of emergency aid vehicles, said: 'These routes are the arteries of survival for millions of people. Every day we see buses hit by shrapnel, drivers with no protective gear. It is a scandal that those who provide the only transport for the elderly and the sick are treated as expendable.'
The cost of failure is stark. In December, a bus carrying fifteen passengers hit a mine near Bakhmut. Four people died. The driver lost both legs. Despite this, the route remains open because there is no viable alternative. Local authorities have warned that without safe corridors, essential food and medicine supplies will soon become impossible to deliver.
The UK Foreign Office has so far avoided directly intervening, concerned about escalating the conflict. But the charities argue that humanitarian corridors for civilian transport do not violate neutrality. A petition launched by the International Transport Workers' Federation has gathered over 10,000 signatures, including from British MPs.
Back on the ground, the mood is grim. A 52-year-old driver named Olexiy, who once drove a double-decker in Manchester, said: 'I left the UK because my wife is from here. I never thought I would be dodging bombs to take people to work. The British people have always stood up for what is right. They cannot turn their backs now.'
As the war grinds into its second year, the price of bread in Kharkiv has doubled and buses are the only link to affordable food. For many, the choice is stark: risk the journey or go hungry. British charities are calling on the government to fund and enforce safe corridors, not out of political alignment, but out of basic humanity. Because a bus driver should not be a soldier, and a passenger should not be a casualty.
