KYIV, Ukraine: A Russian drone struck a busy railway platform in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday, killing at least 14 people in what President Volodymyr Zelensky described as a “horrific” attack that demands action from Kyiv’s allies.
The strike came as Ukraine and Russia maintained a fragile local ceasefire in the ravaged city of Oleshky, which has been under Russian occupation since 2022 and where residents have faced months of food, water and medicine shortages.
Although the truce held into its third day, at least 20 people were killed and more than 70 injured in strikes across the country, according to local officials.
The strike on Dnipro railway station hit a platform “where a regular commuter train and a regular passenger train were standing”, Zelensky said.
By Thursday afternoon, Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Oleksandr Ganzha said the death toll had risen to 14, with another 14 people wounded, six of them in serious condition with “multiple shrapnel wounds”.
One of the injured was an 11-year-old boy, while one man had “both legs amputated”, according to the governor.
Zelensky condemned the attack as “horrific” and insisted that “sanctions against Moscow and its war machine must not be eased for as long as this Russian war continues”.
Images released by Ukrainian emergency services showed bodies on the platform, rescuers helping victims and two burnt-out passenger trains with shattered windows.
French President Emmanuel Macron reacted with outrage to the attack, stressing the need for “far more than a localised ceasefire” such as the one in Oleshky.
Zelensky criticises sanctions relief
European Council president Antonio Costa called for greater pressure on Russia following the latest “cruel and devastating series of Russian strikes against civilians”.
“The EU will continue to increase the pressure on Russia and to support Ukraine until a just and lasting peace is achieved,” he added.
“We call on all our international partners to do the same.”
Russia has targeted trains across Ukraine with drones since the first days of its 2022 invasion, destroying hundreds of locomotives and killing several railway workers.
Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted three jet-powered drones during a daytime attack, but a fourth evaded its defences and struck the station.
Following the attack, Zelensky renewed his criticism of a deal between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to ease some US 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 the energy sector, instead of de-escalating?” he asked.
“It is important that America does not remain silent about the killings — this is very important,” he added in a separate statement.
At least six other people were killed in separate Russian attacks across Ukraine, according to local officials.
Two teenagers killed
An attack on the city centre of Chernigiv, north of Kyiv, killed two 15-year-old girls and wounded nearly two dozen other people, including four children, said the head of the city’s military administration, Dmytro Bryzhynsky.
A drone struck a multi-storey residential building in the central city of Kremenchuk, killing three people and wounding several others, including a six-year-old child, the local governor said.
Russia has intensified its drone and missile attacks in recent weeks, striking energy facilities in what Kyiv says is an attempt to plunge the country into cold and darkness throughout the winter.
The Kremlin vowed this week not to reduce the overall pace of the war, even as both sides prepare to resume stalled talks under US mediation.
Zelensky said on Wednesday that it would be a “huge success” if the local ceasefire in Oleshky, brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump, allowed stranded residents to be evacuated.
Trapped residents have resorted to hunting and eating pigeons in recent months, former residents who remain in contact with people in the city told AFP.
Russia and Ukraine are due to meet US envoys next month to discuss ways to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, although no firm dates have been set for the talks.
Several previous rounds of negotiations have failed to bring the sides closer to an agreement.
Russia is demanding more territory in eastern Ukraine, as well as sweeping military and political restrictions on Kyiv.
Ukraine and its allies say ceding territory to Moscow would amount to capitulation and leave Kyiv vulnerable to future Russian attacks.
