Ukraine Accuses Russia of Railway Attacks

Ukraine has accused Russia of stepping up attacks on its railway network in a bid to isolate communities near the frontline ahead of winter.

Oleksandr Pertsovsky, CEO of Ukrainian Railways, said Russian drone strikes have grown increasingly precise, making it harder for Kyiv to defend against them.

On Saturday, drones targeted two passenger trains in the northeastern Sumy region, killing one person and injuring dozens.

“We clearly see the intensification of enemy attacks on the railway infrastructure,” Pertsovsky told reporters, adding that the strikes had no military purpose and were intended solely to terrorise civilians.

He noted that since August, there have been around 40 major attacks on rail infrastructure, occurring “pretty much every other day.”

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described Saturday’s attack, about 50 kilometres from the Russian border, as “savage” and shared footage of a mangled train carriage engulfed in flames.

“The Russians could not have been unaware that they were striking civilians,” he said.

Railways have been a frequent target since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. In April 2022, more than 60 civilians were killed at Kramatorsk station while waiting to evacuate.

Pertsovsky warned that with increasingly precise Iranian-designed Shahed drones capable of hitting individual locomotives and energy infrastructure, future attacks could be far deadlier without stronger air defences.

Russia has also intensified strikes on Ukraine’s energy network as winter approaches.

Earlier this week, Moscow launched its largest-ever assault on the country’s gas infrastructure, and Saturday’s strikes left around 50,000 homes in the northern Chernigiv region without power.