SHOSTKA, UKRAINE — A brutal Russian drone strike targeted a railway station in the northern Sumy region on Saturday, leaving one person dead and nearly 30 injured, according to Ukrainian officials. The attack, which struck passenger trains, immediately drew fierce condemnation, with Kyiv accusing Moscow of deliberate terrorism against civilian infrastructure.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted video evidence of the devastation on Telegram, showing a wrecked, burning passenger carriage and others with windows blown out at the Shostka station.
“A brutal Russian drone strike on the railway station in Shostka, Sumy region,” Zelensky wrote. “The Russians could not have been unaware that they were targeting civilians. This is terrorism, which the world has no right to ignore.”
‘Double Tap’ Tactic Condemned
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Russian forces of conducting two deliberate strikes on passenger trains, employing a devastating tactic known as the ‘double tap.’
“This is one of the most brutal Russian tactics—the so-called ‘double tap,’ when the second strike hits rescuers and people being evacuated,” Sybiha stated. Sumy region governor Oleh Hryhorov confirmed that eight of the injured had been taken to the hospital.
Targeting Locomotives to Isolate the Border
The attack, which impacted both a local commuter service and a train bound for the capital, Kyiv, highlights Russia’s escalating focus on Ukraine’s rail infrastructure, which has been hit almost daily over the past two months.
Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, CEO of Ukraine’s state rail company, told Reuters in a video interview that the Russian drones were specifically “hunting for locomotives,” causing collateral damage to the attached carriages.
Pertsovskyi stressed that the station handles only civilian traffic, asserting that the strategy is designed to make frontline and border areas, like Shostka—located just 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Russian border—uninhabitable.
“They are doing everything to make frontline and border areas uninhabitable, so that people are afraid to go there, afraid to board trains, afraid to gather at markets,” he added.
Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians throughout its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, despite the extensive loss of civilian life attributed to its military actions. The strike on Shostka railway station is expected to intensify international scrutiny over Russia’s operational tactics.
