Airstrike Takes One Life as Ukrainian Officials Accuse Russia of Striking Civilian Rail Services

A pair of Russian drones hit trains at a railway station in the Sumy region of northern Ukraine, killing one person and leaving roughly 30 injured, officials said on the weekend.

“A brutal Russian drone strike on the railway station in Shostka, Sumy oblast,” posted the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Telegram, publishing a footage of a destroyed, burning passenger carriage and additional cars with their shattered windows.

Allegations of Intentional Strikes

The foreign minister of Ukraine, Andrii Sybiha, accused Russian forces of intentionally conducting two strikes on passenger trains.

“This is one of the most brutal strategies employed by Russia,” he said in a announcement issued by his department.

The Sumy region’s governor, Oleh Hryhorov, reported that eight individuals had been taken to hospital.

Effect on Civilians

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

Moscow has stepped up its airstrikes on Ukraine's rail network, striking it nearly daily over the last two months.

Russia has consistently refuted targeting civilians in its war in Ukraine, although many thousands have been killed by its armed forces.

Railway CEO Describes Attack

In a recorded discussion from a train traveling to the strike site, the CEO of the national railway Pertsovskyi told the media that the unmanned aircraft had targeted train engines, but had also harmed the carriages attached to them.

“In essence, they are hunting for engines,” he said, noting that Russian forces was increasingly deploying this method.

He said the trains hit had been a regional passenger train and another train traveling toward the capital city, Kiev.

Attempt to Create Fear

The railway executive stated there was exclusively non-military transport at the station. He expressed he believed this was an attempt to make areas like Shostka, about 50km from the border with Russia, dangerous for civilian travel.

“They are doing everything to make regions near the front and border unlivable, so that people are afraid to travel there, afraid to board trains, afraid to gather at markets, and so that students are afraid to return home.”