Moment of Terror: Ukrainian Passenger Train Targeted in Drone Strike

Thu Jan 29 2026 20:18:56 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

A Ukrainian soldier recounts the harrowing moment when a Russian drone targeted a passenger train, resulting in panic, destruction, and the loss of five lives.

In a targeted drone strike on a passenger train in northeastern Ukraine, five people lost their lives. A soldier, traveling on the train, shared his account of the panic that ensued as he urged passengers to escape before flames engulfed the carriage. This tragic event, condemned by President Zelensky as an act of terrorism, highlights the perils faced by civilians amidst the ongoing conflict.

A Ukrainian soldier has described the moment a passenger train was targeted by Russian drones, killing five people.

When a carriage on the train was hit in northeastern Ukraine, passengers threw themselves on the floor in panic, and the military officer told them to get out immediately.

Without his instruction, issued moments before the carriage burst into flames, many more passengers could have died.

The officer, whose army call-sign is Omar, is part of Ukraine's 93rd brigade. He was among the passengers traveling on a route from Chop, on the border with Slovakia, to Barvinkove, the last stop before the front line in eastern Ukraine.

The first of three Russian drones landed near the train, forcing it to come to a halt.

Then we heard the rumble of another drone, and then an explosion, Omar tells the BBC. The blast was so strong that parts of the carriage shattered into splinters.

As the commander of a drone unit, he quickly realized he and the other passengers had to get out as the train could get hit again. In all, 291 people were on the train at the time, officials say.

After the second hit, I understood that the drone operator was observing what kind of target it was hitting. A stationary train was an easy target.

The carriage that suffered a direct hit quickly became engulfed in flames. I am in the military and I am prepared for such attacks, says Omar. But for others, it was a shock to be so close to death.

Many passengers evacuated the train in a state of deep distress, and videos from the scene show people screaming and crying as they move away from the smoldering wreck.

It was too dangerous for such a large number of people to stay near the burning carriages, so he urged them to start moving towards a nearby motorway.

He realized that the train had to be evacuated quickly. Returning to the scene, he looked for anyone left behind, discovering five fatalities and a woman with a baby who was desperately seeking her belongings. The heart-wrenching scene reflected the tragedy of this drone targeting.

President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack as terrorism, stressing that it struck at the heart of Ukraine's railway system, which symbolizes national resilience. The attack highlighted the ongoing dangers civilians face in the conflict, as millions depend on the railway for movement across the war-torn country.