A Russian drone strike killed at least 14 people on a crowded rail platform in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday, officials reported. In addition to the Dnipro attack, five other individuals died in separate daytime strikes across other Ukrainian cities.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergiy Koretskyi stated on the Telegram app, "Russia is deliberately hunting civilians: on trains, at stations, in residential buildings." He added, "There is no justification for this terror, and there never can be."
The Ukrainian State Emergency Service released images showing bodies on the ground and rescue workers attending to the injured. Another strike in Chernihiv killed two teenagers and wounded 23 others, according to the city's military administration head, Dmytro Bryzhynskyi. In Kremenchuk, an attack on an apartment building resulted in three deaths and 15 injuries.
Moscow has maintained that it does not deliberately target civilians. A six-day humanitarian truce brokered with U.S. assistance was reported to apply only to the Kherson region, aimed at facilitating humanitarian relief to the town of Oleshky, which has been isolated since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in early 2022.
Russian forces have frequently targeted Ukraine's critical infrastructure, including its rail network, impacting civilian life and the economy. The attacks come amid an acute shortage of air defense missiles in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged international partners to increase pressure on Russia, referencing the lifting of sanctions on Russian diesel exports and the suspension of measures against two Russian billionaires by the EU. He questioned the efficacy of these actions in preventing further attacks.
The state rail company, Ukrzaliznytsia, reported that a jet-powered drone struck the platform at Dnipro's main station as a commuter train was preparing to depart for Zaporizhzhia.