5 dead after Russian drones strike bus, rail targets in Ukraine, officials say

Russian drones hit a passenger bus and railway targets in southern Ukraine, killing five people and forcing a train evacuation. The strikes highlighted a sharper focus on transport links and prompted fresh calls for tighter sanctions on Moscow.Russia and Ukraine have increasingly traded strikes on logistics networks and other economic targets in an effort to disrupt each other's war effort and undermine morale. ( Photo- Reuters)Russian drones struck a passenger bus and railway targets in southern Ukraine on Wednesday, killing five people and injuring several others, Ukrainian officials said, as Moscow intensified attacks on transport infrastructure and other economic targets.The deadliest strike hit a passenger bus near the frontline city of Nikopol early on Wednesday, killing four men and a woman, police said. Seven others were wounded, according to Oleksandr Hanzha, governor of the surrounding Dnipropetrovsk region.Hanzha shared a photograph on Telegram showing a white vehicle with shattered windows and what appeared to be a trail of blood running down its side.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned the attack, saying, "There is no military logic to this, just another act of brutality," and called on the United States and Europe to tighten sanctions against Russia. TRAIN ATTACKED THREE TIMES IN MYKOLAIVA Russian drone also struck a passenger train in the southern Mykolaiv region, forcing the evacuation of all 168 passengers and crew members, acting regional governor Heorhii Reshetilov said.No one was injured in the attack, but the train was struck twice more after the initial drone strike, Reshetilov said in a post on Telegram. Zelenskiy said a locomotive in Kovel, near Ukraine's border with Poland, was also hit.The attacks came days after a similar strike on a train near Ukraine's border with Nato member Poland. European diplomats and political figures had travelled on the same railway line shortly before the attack on Sunday.RAILWAYS BECOME KEY TARGET IN WARRussia and Ukraine have increasingly traded strikes on logistics networks and other economic targets in an effort to disrupt each other's war effort and undermine morale.With Ukrainian airspace closed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, trains and buses have become essential transport links for civilians and businesses across the country.Ukraine's state rail operator told Reuters that Russian forces have struck 120 passenger coaches, 304 locomotives and 43 railway stations this year.In total, the company said, Russia has attacked 1,700 railway facilities since the start of the year, compared with 1,206 in all of 2025 and 842 in 2024."Russian forces strike passenger trains, locomotives, stations, and railway routes knowing exactly how essential they are for civilians, evacuations, and Ukraine's economy," Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X."This is not collateral damage. It is a systematic hunt for people and an attempt to paralyse civilian life," he said.MORE CASUALTIES REPORTED ACROSS UKRAINEUkrainian regional officials reported further casualties from Russian attacks during Wednesday.Russian shelling killed one person in the southern Kherson region, while the head of the Odesa city administration reported one death in the port city. More than a dozen people were injured in Russian attacks on Sumy in northern Ukraine and Kropyvnytskyi in central Ukraine.The Russia-installed head of Moscow-controlled parts of eastern Donetsk region, meanwhile, said a Ukrainian drone attack killed one person.Officials in Russia's border Belgorod region said six people were wounded in Ukrainian attacks.There was no immediate comment from Moscow on the strikes. Both Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately targeting civilians in the war that began with Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.- EndsPublished By: Nitish SinghPublished On: Sep 17, 2026 05:16 IST