A military man slept with a service dog in the vestibule of the Ukrzaliznytsia train: what happened
Ukrzaliznytsia claims that the man refused to travel in his seat in the carriage
Kateryna Bilozerova/Facebook
A military serviceman who was traveling to Vinnytsia on the “Ukrzaliznytsia” Odesa-Kovel train could not take his place in the carriage. The man and his service dog were forced to sleep on the floor in the vestibule.
About the incident told a passenger in the same direction, Kateryna Bilozerova, who was heading to Kovel.
In a comment for “UP. Life”, the woman reported that she was traveling in a first-class carriage, in the vestibule of which she accidentally came across a sleeping man in a military uniform.
According to her, the passenger was lying on the “bare” floor, covered with a light blanket. A German Shepherd dog was tied to a metal part of the wagon next to him, the woman says.
Kateryna claims that she tried to wake him up and ask why he was there.
“I first opened the door and addressed him: “Man, man”. The sound between the cars is incredible, you can’t even hear yourself, and he was fast asleep.”says the passenger.
The woman eventually left, but returned a short time later hoping to speak with the passenger in military uniform. This time, in response to the appeal, the dog “replied with a snarl”, so the woman decided not to bother them anymore.
During one of the train stops, Kateryna finally asked the conductor if she knew the reason for the military man’s stay outside the carriage.
To this, according to Kateryna, the employee of “Ukrzaliznytsia” allegedly replied that “she has no right to let them go.” The guide explained this by the fact that the man was accompanied by a large dog.
Kateryna found out that the soldier was traveling with his mother, who was in the carriage. The woman allegedly told Kateryna that the conductor “offered to leave the service dog in the vestibule, but her son did not agree.”
“He will not leave the dog, the dog will not be without him either. They were together under Bakhmut”– remembers the words of the mother of the soldier Kateryn.
The passenger does not know whether other people in the carriage tried to communicate with the man. Instead, one of the passengers allegedly complained to the conductor that the soldier’s dog did not have a muzzle.
How did Ukrzaliznytsia react to the incident?
Representatives of “Ukrzaliznytsia” reacted to the incident in comments to Kateryna’s post. They claim that the soldier actually chose this way of travel because “it was psychologically more comfortable for him to travel in the vestibule.”
“You have to understand that our defenders may have psychological reasons to behave a little differently than other passengers. Our crews face this every day – standing in vestibules, not wanting to sleep on a bed, boiling water instead of tea, etc.
That night, both the conductor and the train conductor repeatedly offered to take a seat in the compartment (restrictions for service dogs does not exist if all seats in the compartment are purchased, but in this case the neighbors had no objections to the dog), but the choice of servicemen should be respected by all of us”– noted in the UZ.
On the other hand, Kateryna claims that she did not see the train commander in the car that night during the journey “even when another soldier had an epileptic attack, and there was no one in the car who could provide help.”
The editors of “UP. Life” turned to “Ukrzaliznytsia” with a request to confirm or deny the passenger’s words given in the text. As of the time of publishing the material, we have not received a response.
We will remind, in March 2024, a serviceman of the National Guard of Ukraine was forced stand in the vestibule of an Intercity train because his service dog is not allowed to travel in the car.
