Russia attacks a passenger train in Ukraine with drones
At least four people have died from the impact of the aircraft on the convoy carrying 155 people.
BarcelonaUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned as "terrorism" a Russian drone attack on a crowded passenger train that, according to local authorities, killed at least five people and injured several others on Tuesday night.
The deadliest drone strike was reportedly on the third carriage, while two other drones hit the side of the train. President Zelensky called the attack terrorist: "In any country, a drone attack on a civilian train would be considered exactly the same: purely as terrorism," the Ukrainian leader wrote on the Telegram messaging app. Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba called the attack a "direct act of Russian terrorism." More than 200 people were traveling on the train, according to official sources, when one of the carriages was directly hit by a drone and two other unmanned aerial vehicles exploded nearby in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine early this morning. Zelenskyy said that 18 people were inside the carriage at the time and stated that there was no "military justification." Russia has not commented on the attack. In recent days, it has intensified drone and missile strikes against energy and transport infrastructure in Ukraine amid the country's worst cold wave in recent years. Elsewhere in the country, the southern port city of Odessa has been attacked by dozens of drones, and authorities have reported that three more people have been killed and dozens more wounded. Energy officials said a local facility suffered "enormous damage" overnight from Monday to Tuesday, and the head of the regional administration, Serhi Lisak, said the attacks continued for a second night. Meanwhile, in the Kyiv region, a couple was killed and their four-year-old son injured when an apartment building was attacked in a district near the capital, according to police. Millions of people in Ukraine have been left without heating, electricity and water as a result of the Russian attacks.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched an Iskander-M ballistic missile and 146 drones against Ukraine overnight. Air defenses intercepted 103 drones. At least 36 drones and the missile managed to penetrate the defenses and impacted at 22 different locations.