KYIV, Sunday, October 5, 2025 — At least one person was killed and around 30 others were injured on Saturday after two Russian drones struck a train station in the northern Ukrainian town of Shostka, in the Sumy region, officials said.
According to Ukrainian authorities, the drones hit two passenger trains that were preparing to depart the station. The blasts destroyed several train carriages and caused fires that burned for hours.
President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack as a deliberate strike on civilians, calling it “a brutal act of terrorism.”
“The Russians could not have been unaware that they were targeting civilians,” Zelensky said in a statement on Telegram. “This is terrorism which the world has no right to ignore.”
A video shared by the president showed a wrecked, burning passenger carriage, with others nearby shattered by the force of the explosions.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Moscow of deliberately targeting rescuers in a so-called “double tap” strike — a tactic where a second attack hits emergency workers responding to the first.
“This is one of the most brutal Russian tactics — striking again when rescuers and civilians are being evacuated,” Sybiha said.
Regional Governor Oleh Hryhorov confirmed that eight people were taken to hospital with serious injuries, while dozens of others were treated on site for burns and shrapnel wounds.
Emergency crews worked through the night to extinguish fires and search through damaged train cars.
Ukraine’s state rail company CEO Oleksandr Pertsovskyi told Reuters that the drones specifically targeted locomotives and other critical railway equipment.
“They are hunting for locomotives,” he said from a train heading to the scene. “These were commuter and passenger trains, not military. They want to make people too afraid to travel.”
He added that Russia has been attacking railway facilities almost daily for the past two months — a pattern aimed at disrupting civilian movement and supply lines.
The town of Shostka, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Russian border, has frequently come under fire since Moscow’s full-scale invasion began in 2022. Residents say the attacks have made it dangerous to travel, trade, or even return home.
“They want people to be afraid — afraid to go to school, to markets, to visit family,” Pertsovskyi said.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied targeting civilians during its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, though thousands have been killed and millions displaced since the conflict began.
Ukraine and Western nations accuse Russia of systematic strikes on civilian infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, and train lines — acts widely condemned as violations of international law.
