One dead after 'savage' Russian attack on Ukrainian railway station

One person was killed and dozens injured in a Russian drone strike on Saturday that hit a Ukrainian railway station, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as Moscow has stepped up attacks on Ukraine's rail and power grids.

The strike was "savage" Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X. “All emergency services are already on the scene and have begun helping people. All information about the injured is being established," he added.

At least 30 people were reported injured in the attack on the city of Shostka, around 70 kilometres from the Russian border.

Hours later, local officials said that a 71-year-old man was found dead in the wrecked carriage of a train.

Russia struck two passenger trains in quick succession, first targeting a local service and then a second bound for Kyiv, said Oleksiy Kuleba, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister and reconstruction minister. A second drone hit while an evacuation was underway.

“This is one of the most brutal Russian tactics — the so-called ‘double strike,’ when the second strike hits rescuers and people who are evacuating,” Ukraine's top diplomat, Andrii Sybiha, said on Saturday.

Both Zelenskyy and local Governor Oleh Hryhorov posted what they said were photos from the scene showing a passenger carriage on fire.

The drone strikes also knocked out the power supply in Shostka, home to some 70,000 people before the war, and surrounding areas, according to Hryhorov.

Moscow strikes rail and power networks

Russia has recently stepped up attacks on Ukraine's railway network, which is critical for military transport. As in the years prior, Moscow has also ramped up attacks on Ukraine's power grid as winter approaches.

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 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 109 drones and 3 Iskander ballistic missiles at Ukraine on the night of 3-4 October. Ukrainian air defence forces managed to destroy at least 73 UAVs.