A Russian drone strike launched on a railway station in northeastern Ukraine killed at least one person and injured at least 30 people according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Ukrainian leader described the attack as “savage” after a passenger train was targeted.
At least 30 people were injured in the attack on Shostka, a city northeast of Kyiv about 43 miles from the Russian border. In a post showing burnt out train carriages with fire bellowing, Zelensky said: “A savage Russian drone strike on the railway station in Shostka, Sumy region. So far, we know of at least 30 victims. The Russians could not have been unaware that they were striking civilians.
“And this is terror the world must not ignore. Every day Russia takes people’s lives.”
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said that Russia hit two trains including a local passenger train and another travelling to Kyiv.
He said on Telegram: “Medical teams have already transported the injured to hospitals and are providing necessary assistance. Others (who were at the site) are in shelters overseen by rescuers.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X: “These were targeted and deliberate Russian drone strikes on passenger trains.
“Russian terrorists must get strong responses for this deliberate and brutal terror against civilians.”
Moscow has recently stepped up airstrikes on Ukraine’s railway network, which is essential for military transport, hitting it almost every day over the past two months.
As in previous years since the full-scale invasion in 2022, the Kremlin has also ramped up attacks on Ukraine’s power grid, in what Kyiv calls an attempt to weaponise the approaching winter by denying civilians heat, light and running water.
Overnight into Saturday, Russian drones and missiles pounded Ukraine’s power grid again, 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 west of Shostka that lies 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 night-time 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 three-year-old conflict.
Naftogaz’s chief executive, Serhii Koretskyi, said on 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.
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.