The strike came as Ukraine and Russia strive to uphold a fragile local ceasefire in the ravaged city of Oleshky -- under Russian occupation since 2022 and where residents have faced months of food, water and medicine shortages. The truce was holding into its third day, both countries said, with the Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets announcing that he had "set out with the Ukrainian delegation towards Oleshky" through Belarus and Russia. The strike at the Dnipro train station hit a platform "where a regular commuter train and a regular passenger train were standing", Zelensky said.
"Sanctions against Moscow and its war machine must not be eased for as long as this Russian war continues," he added, slamming the attack as "horrific". Ukraine's vast train network is a vital form of transport in the country © Handout / UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE/AFP Images released by Ukrainian emergency services showed bodies on the platform, rescuers helping victims to safety and two burnt-out passenger trains with their windows shattered. Russia has fired drones on trains across Ukraine since the first days of its 2022 invasion -- destroying hundreds of locomotives and killing several railway workers.
In September alone, passengers were evacuated from more than 5,800 Ukrainian train services due to the threat of Russian drone strikes, the national railway operator told AFP. Ukraine's air force said it had intercepted three jet-powered drones in a daytime attack, but that a fourth evaded its defences and hit the station. The head of Ukraine Railways, Oleksandr Pertsovsky, said an elevated threat level had been announced.
"But unfortunately there were still a large number of people on the platform," he said on Facebook. In the aftermath of the attack, Zelensky refreshed his criticism of a deal struck this month between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to ease some sanctions on Russia allowing Moscow to release diesel onto global markets. "How many such terrorist strikes has Russia carried out against our people since sanctions were lifted on some Russian oligarchs and energy sector, instead of de-escalating," he asked.
At least five others were killed across Ukraine in separate Russian attacks, according to local officials. A strike on the city centre of Chernigiv, north of Kyiv, killed two 15-year-old girls and wounded more than a dozen, the head of the city's military administration, Dmytro Bryzhynsky, said. A drone also slammed into a multi-storey residential building in the central city of Kremenchuk, killing two and wounding several -- including a six-year-old -- the local governor said.
Russia has intensified drone and missile attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks, hitting energy sites around major cities in what Kyiv says is a bid to plunge the country into cold and darkness throughout the winter. The Kremlin earlier this week vowed not to let up in the overall pace of the war even as the sides prepare to restart stalled talks under US mediation. Zelensky said on Wednesday it would be a "huge success" if the local ceasefire in Oleshky -- brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump -- allowed for the evacuation of stranded citizens.
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