Ukrposhta, together with Estonian National Post Omniva, Slovak Interport and Ukrzaliznytsia, for the first time since 2002, carried out the first delivery of international parcels to Ukraine by rail, the press service of the postal operator reported on Tuesday.

"In the first test delivery by rail, Omniva and Ukrposhta jointly delivered three wagons with almost 80,000 customer parcels from global marketplaces," the statement said.

It is noted that when delivered by rail, parcels cross the border within 24 hours.

"Ukrposhta accepted imported international mail by freight rail cars for the first time since 2002. Thanks to Ukrzaliznytsia and Estonian Post, which is a key transit partner of Ukrposhta when delivering parcels from global marketplaces, in particular from Chinese online stores, the traffic will be regular," the statement said.

Ukrposhta emphasized that the new transport solution will allow companies not to depend on the situation at the border and deliver any volume of customer parcels.

"Taking into account the blockade of most automobile checkpoints on the border with Poland and Slovakia, as well as the increase in queues at checkpoints that remain open, delivery by rail allows Ukrposhta to cross the border, despite force majeure situations," it says message.

It is noted that the new logistics scheme facilitates the prompt delivery of parcels during peak seasonal sales on international trading platforms.

Earlier, at the final meeting of the Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development, the general director of Ukrposhta, Igor Smilyansky, said that Ukraine does not lose hope of launching the Warsaw-Kyiv mail train, which will reduce the delivery time for parcels from Europe to one day. At the same time, the delivery time for parcels to the United States will be reduced from the current 8-10 days to three to four days.

Ukrposhta, before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, sent international shipments from Boryspil International Airport (Kyiv) in cooperation with 15 airlines. At the same time, direct flights were operated to New York, Toronto and Beijing. After the start of the war and the closure of Ukrainian airports, the operator switched to delivering international shipments to Europe, including to European airports, by road.