August M
A Russian drone attack on a passenger train in northeastern Ukraine has killed several people, Ukrainian authorities said, drawing condemnation from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and renewed warnings about the dangers facing civilian infrastructure.
The incident was reported by NBC News, citing Ukrainian prosecutors and officials.
Attack on rail line
Prosecutors said a passenger train was struck near a village in the Kharkiv region. The service had been travelling from Chop, close to Ukraine’s western borders with Hungary and Slovakia, to the town of Barvinkove.
According to investigators, one drone hit the train directly, while two others struck the surrounding area. Photographs shared online showed at least two train carriages on fire beside a snow-covered track.
Fragments of five bodies were found at the scene, prosecutors said.
Conflicting tolls
Ukrainian officials offered slightly differing casualty figures in the immediate aftermath. Zelenskyy said four people were killed and noted that more than 200 passengers were on board, including 18 in the carriage that was hit.
Prosecutors had earlier said the train was carrying 155 passengers. Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba described the strike, involving three drones, as a “direct act of Russian terror.”
Zelenskyy condemnation
Zelenskyy denounced the attack in a post on the Telegram messaging app, calling it an act of terrorism.
“In any country, a drone strike on a civilian train would be considered in exactly the same way — purely as terrorism,” he wrote. “There is not and cannot be any military purpose in this.”
He added that international pressure on Russia was necessary to protect civilian lives.
Rail services continue
Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, chief executive of Ukraine’s national railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia, thanked emergency responders and passengers who helped evacuate the injured.
“Keeping things moving is becoming more difficult,” he wrote on Facebook. “We are regrouping. There will be additional strict security measures in some places, but even on those most frightening days, we cannot give up.”
Civilian risk persists
The strike highlights the ongoing vulnerability of civilian transport networks as the war continues, even far from the front lines.
Ukrainian authorities said investigations into the attack were continuing.
Sources: NBC News
