Ukraine's train chased by drones: Forced to evacuate several times during the journey

- Do you have slippers with you for the evacuation? Juliana asks in the sling below me.

I don't have that. A few days earlier, a train conductor had indeed told me that they are increasingly forced to evacuate the carriages - but I was not prepared for exactly how cumbersome train travel in Ukraine has become in recent weeks due to Russia's new drones.

Three hours into the journey, the conductor knocks on the compartment door and says we have to leave the train. We disembark and enter the shelter of a station house. Ten minutes later the journey continues.

A while later, when many of us have managed to fall asleep in our bunk beds, it's time again. Now there is no shelter nearby and we are asked to get off and go out into a meadow.

An army of sleepy travelers wrapped in blue blankets walks slowly through the tall grass. Muffled bangs are heard in the distance. I am thinking about what is a safe distance if a drone comes flying and crashes into the train.

The third time it is time to evacuate, we are only a few kilometers from the Polish border, in a depot where the train is to be prepared for the new track width.

Lying on the overhang with only a couple of centimeters between me and the ceiling, I struggle nervously to put on my sneakers.

We come out and gather around the corner of the building. Some of the passengers smoke, others walk in circles to keep warm. I see Juliana and my other compartment neighbor with evacuation slippers on their feet.