Russian drone strike hits passenger train in northern Ukraine, 30 injured

A Russian drone strike hit a passenger train at a railway station in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, injuring dozens of people, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday (October 4).

“A brutal Russian drone strike on the railway station in Shostka, Sumy region,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram, sharing a video showing a wrecked and burning passenger carriage, with nearby cars bearing shattered windows. He said dozens of passengers and railway staff had been wounded in the attack.

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As per Reuters, regional governor Oleh Hryhorov confirmed that the strike targeted a train travelling from Shostka to the capital, Kyiv. Emergency services, including medics and rescue teams, were working at the scene.

Zelenskyy dubs it 'terrorism'

Oksana Tarasiuk, head of the local district administration, told Ukraine’s public broadcaster that about 30 people had been injured, though no fatalities were reported immediately after the strike.

“The Russians could not have been unaware that they were targeting civilians. This is terrorism, which the world has no right to ignore,” Zelenskyy said.

Over the past two months, Moscow has intensified its aerial assaults on Ukraine’s railway infrastructure, striking it almost daily in what Kyiv says is an attempt to cripple civilian transport and logistics networks.

Ukraine's power grid attacked

Earlier, Russian drones and missiles pounded Ukraine's power grid overnight into Saturday, a Ukrainian energy firm said, a day after what officials described as the biggest attack on Ukrainian natural gas facilities since Moscow's all-out invasion more than three and a half years ago.

The strike damaged energy facilities near Chernihiv, a northern city close to the Russian border, and sparked blackouts set to affect some 50,000 households, according to regional operator Chernihivoblenergo.

The head of Chernihiv's military administration, Dmytro Bryzhynskyi, confirmed a nighttime Russian attack on the city caused multiple fires, but did not immediately say what was hit.

The day before, Russia launched its biggest attack of the war against natural gas facilities run by Ukraine's state-owned Naftogaz Group, Ukrainian officials said.

Russia fired a total of 381 drones and 35 missiles at Ukraine on Friday, according to Ukraine's air force, in what officials said was an attempt to wreck the Ukrainian power grid ahead of winter and wear down public support for the 3-year-old conflict.

Bid to terrorise civilians, says PM

Naftogaz's chief executive, Serhii Koretskyi, said Friday the attacks had no military purpose, while Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko accused Moscow of “terrorising civilians.” Moscow claimed the strikes targeted facilities that support Kyiv's war effort.

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Overnight into Saturday, Russian forces launched a further 109 drones and three ballistic missiles at Ukraine, the Ukrainian military reported. It said 73 of the drones were shot down or sent off course.

Since Russia's February 2022 invasion of its neighbour, each year as winter approaches, Russian forces have blasted Ukraine's power grid. Ukraine says it is an attempt to weaponise winter by denying civilians heat, light and running water.

Russia has recently escalated its strikes on Ukraine's power grid, as well as its rail network, which is essential for military transport.

(With agency inputs)