Russian drone attack on Ukrainian train station kills at least 14, officials say

At least 14 people have been killed after a Russian jet-powered drone hit a crowded platform at the main railway station in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, local officials have said.

Dnipropetrovsk regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said at least 14 others were wounded in the attack, including an 11-year-old boy.

Ukraine's state railway operator, Ukrzaliznytsia, said a passenger train headed for the southern city of Zaporizhzhia was at one of the platforms in Dnipro when the drone hit.

Russia's military has not publicly commented. It has repeatedly hit Ukraine's large railway network, but Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians.

In Dnipro, an elevated threat level was announced ahead of Thursday's strike, according to the railway operator chief, Oleksandr Pertsovsky.

"But unfortunately there were still a large number of people on the platform" when the drone struck, he said.

Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov said the incident was a tragedy, adding that a drone hit an electric civilian train.

Pictures from the Ukrainian rescue services show a large hole in a platform that is strewn with blurred-out bodies, near a blast-damaged train with smashed windows.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said "the Russians used a drone to attack a platform where a regular commuter train and a regular passenger train were standing."

He called for further US, European and G7 sanctions on Russia and repeated his criticism of a controversial deal that was struck earlier this month between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, which eased some sanctions on Moscow, allowing the US to import Russian diesel.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, two girls aged 15 were killed in a Russian missile attack on the centre of Chernihiv city, in the north of the country, regional head Vyacheslav Chaus said. At least 25 others, including four children, were injured, he added.

A day of mourning has been declared for Chernihiv and Dnipro on Friday.

In the city of Kremenchuk, in the central Poltava region, three people were killed and 28 injured in a Russian drone attack that hit residential buildings and a school, regional head Vitaliy Diakivnych said.

The latest Russian strikes came during efforts to uphold a fragile ceasefire in the besieged city of Oleshky, which has been under Russian occupation since 2022 and where residents have been trapped without food, water, medicine and electricity for years.

Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, wrote on Telegram that the truce was holding into a third day.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin has condemned Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow whilst the city hosts the Russia-Africa Summit, the Tass news agency has reported. The two-day event is attended by African leaders and government delegations from 48 countries.

The mayor of Moscow said 613 Ukrainian drones were launched overnight towards the region, most of which were shot down during their flight.

Russia's defence ministry has always denied targeting Ukrainian civilians and says its attacks on railways target the infrastructure used to transport military personnel and equipment.

However, the dangers to passengers are very real, and attacks on Ukraine's train infrastructure have risen sharply.

Of the 521 locomotives hit since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, almost 60% have been hit this year, according to statistics released by Ukrzaliznytsia supplied to AFP news agency.

Overall attacks on railway facilities have risen from 1,206 in 2025 to 1,700 so far this year.

There appears to have been a wider assault on Ukraine's infrastructure in recent weeks, with two bridges attacked in the capital Kyiv, and a metro train hit during one of the strikes.

Additional reporting by Jaroslav Lukiv