At least five people were k!lled after a Russian drone struck a civilian passenger train in northeastern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, describing the attack as an “act of terrorism.”
Emergency workers arriving at the scene in the Kharkiv region were met with severe destruction, with body parts scattered among the burned wreckage, making it difficult to immediately determine the total number of casualties. Nearly 300 people were traveling on the train, which is commonly used by Ukrainians visiting soldiers near the front lines.
“In any country, a drone strike on a civilian train would be regarded in the same way — purely as an act of terrorism,” Zelensky said in a statement on Telegram, adding that “18 people were in the car hit by one of the Russian drones.”
The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office said the remains of five people had been recovered, noting that identification would only be possible through DNA testing. While Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s railway infrastructure since the start of the war, a direct strike on a passenger train is considered rare.
Ukraine’s national railway operator, Ukrzaliznytsia, said two people were injured and one person remains missing. The company announced that flags at railway stations nationwide would be lowered and a minute of silence observed in honor of the victims.
According to Ukrzaliznytsia, the train was traveling from Chop and Lviv in western Ukraine to Barvinkove, a town on the edge of the Donetsk region and the closest station to the front lines, roughly 70 kilometers away. Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said the drones hit the front of the locomotive and a passenger car.
Video released by Ukrainian authorities showed smoke and flames pouring from shattered windows of a destroyed carriage. Another clip showed a young woman being rescued from the train while holding her baby, sobbing as she explained she was traveling to “show my son to his father.” Additional footage posted on social media showed passengers, including families with small children, fleeing the burning train and walking through snow-covered woods carrying their belongings.
Ukrzaliznytsia said it was temporarily reducing some train services, particularly in the Kharkiv region, warning that Russia was intensifying attacks on the rail network. Special traffic conditions would be introduced in certain areas, especially near the front lines, and passengers were advised to expect delays. “Punctuality and speed are important to us, but nothing is more important than safety,” the operator said.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack, calling it “unacceptable,” and said he had spoken with Zelensky. He also denounced Russian strikes on civilians and energy infrastructure and pledged additional support for Ukraine, including generators to help the population through winter.
Russia has previously carried out deadly attacks on railway targets in Ukraine. One of the deadliest occurred in 2022, when a missile strike on a train station in Kramatorsk killed 61 people, including children.
The train attack followed a massive overnight Russian assault on Ukraine’s Odesa region, which killed at least three people and injured dozens more. Zelensky said the strikes targeted energy infrastructure and civilian facilities. Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said significant electricity shortages persist in Kyiv and several other regions, including Odesa, Kharkiv and Donetsk, due to continued attacks on power facilities.
Further overnight strikes hit the Kyiv region, where a missile destroyed part of an apartment building, killing a couple as they slept. Their four-year-old daughter survived after being rescued from the burning apartment by a neighbor, a journalist who lived in the same building.
In Russia, authorities reported that a Ukrainian drone strike killed one man in the Belgorod region after two drones hit a car, according to state media citing regional officials.
