Ukraine’s Zelensky condemns Russian drone strike that killed five on passenger train

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned as “terrorism” a Russian drone attack on a crowded passenger train that local officials say killed at least five people and injured several others.

More than 200 people were on the train, officials said, when one of the carriages was hit by a drone and two other drones exploded nearby, in Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkiv region on Tuesday.

Zelensky said 18 people were in the carriage at the time and there was no “military justification” in targeting civilians.

Russia has not commented on the strike, but it has intensified drone and missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy and transport infrastructure during the harshest winter in years.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, the southern port city of Odesa was hit by dozens of drones and officials said three people were killed and dozens more wounded.

Energy officials said a local facility had suffered “enormous damage” overnight into Tuesday and Odesa city chief Serhii Lysak said attacks had continued for a second night into Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in the Kyiv region, a couple were killed and their four-year-old child was hurt when a residential block of flats was hit in a district close to the capital, police said.

Millions of people across Ukraine have been left without heating, electricity and water after the Russian assaults.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, and Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory.

In a post on social media late on Tuesday, Zelensky wrote: “In any country, a drone strike on a civilian train would be considered in exactly the same way – purely as terrorism.”

Pictures and footage released by Ukraine’s emergency services show at least one badly destroyed carriage still burning after the attack.

Kharkiv’s regional prosecutor’s office said the train was struck near the Yazykove village.

The office said the train was heading from the western border town of Chop to Barvinkove in the Kharkiv region via the regional capital Kharkiv.

This line runs further east to the Donetsk region, and is used by local residents and Ukrainian soldiers travelling to and from leave, as well as their wives and girlfriends travelling east to see them.

Officials in Odesa said Russia had launched more than 50 drones on the port overnight into Tuesday.

Three bodies were found in the rubble after several floors of one residential building collapsed after the strike, and a number of other buildings were damaged.

Russia’s daily aerial assaults continue even though Ukraine-Russia talks last week held the latest round of talks aimed at ending the war.

The talks that also involved US negotiators took place in the United Arab Emirates, and were hailed by all sides as constructive.

However, key territorial issues remain unresolved, and further meetings are expected this weekend.