In brief
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned a Russian drone attack on a passenger train, which resulted in five fatalities and several injuries. He described the incident as an act of terrorism, emphasizing the lack of military justification for targeting civilians. This escalation comes amid intensified attacks on energy and transport facilities across Ukraine during severe winter conditions.
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 reported, when one of the carriages was struck by a drone while two additional drones detonated nearby in the north-eastern Kharkiv region on Tuesday. President Zelensky noted that 18 people were present in the impacted carriage and asserted that there was no 'military justification' for targeting civilians.While Russia has not commented on this attack, it has recently ramped up its drone and missile strikes on Ukraine's energy and transport infrastructure during one of the harshest winters in years. In a broader context, drone strikes in other Ukrainian regions, including Odesa, have left several casualties including fatalities following mass attacks on civilian buildings. Zelensky voiced on social media that a drone strike on a civilian train would be universally recognized as an act of terrorism, underscoring the severe humanitarian impact of ongoing conflicts in the region. The escalating violence has left millions in Ukraine without basic necessities such as heating, electricity, and water, as the ongoing conflict initiated with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 continues to wreak havoc on civilian life.
