Russia Strikes Train from Kharkiv Region to Zakarpattia with Shaheds. Casualties Rising, First Details of Attack Emerge

Russian drones struck a passenger train near Barvinkove, Kharkiv region, killing five. Passengers, including soldiers, jumped from burning carriages while rescuers battled the fire.

At least four people were killed in a Russian drone attack on a train near Barvinkove in southern Kharkiv region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported. Rescuers are searching for four more people, and two others were injured, according to BBC News Ukraine.

The prosecutor’s office said it has already found fragments of five bodies. The Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that rescuers discovered “the bodies of four dead and body fragments” in the passenger train carriage. The exact number of casualties will be determined after DNA examinations.

According to law enforcement, the Russian army struck with three drones, reportedly of the “Geran-2” type.

The passenger train on the Chop – Lviv – Kharkiv – Barvinkove route was hit near the village of Yazykove in the Barvinkove community.

Two of the strikes landed near the train, and one hit a carriage, causing a fire.

Emergency Service units and a firefighting train were involved in extinguishing the fire, which was put out after 11 p.m.

As initially reported by Ukraine’s Minister for Communities and Territories Development, Oleksiy Kuleba, nearly 300 passengers were on board the train at the time of the strike. The prosecutor’s office later clarified that there were about 150 passengers, all of whom were evacuated.

The Russian strike was commented on by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“In any country, a drone strike on a civilian train would be considered solely as terrorism. There would be no doubt about its classification — whether in Europe, America, the Arab world, China, or anywhere else. There is and cannot be any military purpose in killing civilians on a train,” he wrote on social media.

According to the president, there were 18 people in the carriage hit by one of the Russian drones. Overall, four people have so far been reported killed in the three-drone strike.

During the night, Ukrzaliznytsia reported that the remaining 10 carriages continued their journey, carrying passengers to western Ukraine.

How the strike was carried out

Electronic warfare and communications expert Serhiy “Flash” Beskrestnov, who has become the chief advisor to the defense minister in this area, has already shared details of the attack.

“Loitering drones with online control targeted a moving passenger train. They did not attack the locomotive but the middle of the train. The pilot controlling the drone via a MESH radio modem (or Starlink?) did this intentionally and deliberately. Pilots can clearly distinguish the types of carriages,” Flash said.

“Russian media are writing about a train carrying military personnel. That is not true. Among the passengers were soldiers returning from leave and traveling to their units as regular passengers. Many of them, having combat experience and medical skills, provided first aid to children and women,” he added.

He believes the enemy may strike freight trains, justifying it as an impact on logistics, but attacking civilian trains is “the lowest of the low.”

“The Russian pilot who did this — you have a name, a surname, you have a family. Today you committed the murder of innocent people, and you will have to live with that,” Flash concluded.

However, by the end of the day, it became known that the death toll had risen to five. This was reported by Zakarpattia journalist Vitaliy Hlahola, who also released a video of the train on fire:

“A video has appeared showing passengers jumping from the Chop–Barvinkove train after the drone strike. Following the Russian drone attack on the passenger train, footage shows people escaping the burning carriages, fleeing the fire.”