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Ukraine: Russian Drone Attacks Endanger Rail Travel Click to expand Image
A damaged Ukrainian railway carriage that was attacked by a Russian drone on January 27, 2026 near Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine killing five people, and injuring two others, on display at the Kyiv central train station on February 23, 2026.
© 2026 HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP via Getty Images
Russian drone attacks on passenger trains and railway infrastructure in Ukraine have killed and injured civilians, including railway workers, disrupting a transportation network millions of Ukrainians rely on to escape danger and access essential services.Attacks on civilian trains and railway infrastructure violate international humanitarian law and may constitute war crimes.Russia should cease unlawful attacks, particularly those targeting civilian objects, and hold its forces accountable for serious violations of international humanitarian law. Ukraine's international partners should support measures to protect civilians and critical civilian transportation networks.(Kyiv, November 10, 2026) – Escalating Russian drone attacks on passenger trains and other railway vehicles in Ukraine have killed and injured civilians, including railway workers, and increasingly threaten a transportation system that millions of Ukrainians depend on, Human Rights Watch said today.Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine's state railway company, Ukrzaliznytsia, has evacuated more than 4 million people by train from areas under attack, while maintaining essential transportation links for civilians across the country."For millions of Ukraine's civilians, trains are a lifeline, enabling them to escape danger, reunite with family members, and access essential services including medical care," said Belkis Wille, associate crisis, conflict and arms director at Human Rights Watch. "The increasing Russian drone attacks on passenger trains put civilian lives at risk, threatening a transportation system many depend on for safety and survival."Human Rights Watch investigated three Russian drone attacks on trains and railway equipment between March and September 2026. Researchers interviewed railway workers and a passenger and examined photographs and videos of the attacks and their aftermath, including footage published by the Russian Defense Ministry and Russian military-affiliated Telegram channels.In 2026, the attacks have increased, including one on January 27, when a Russian drone struck a passenger train carrying 292 people in Kharkivska region, killing five civilians and injuring two others, according to Ukrainian authorities.A Russian drone strike on March 2 on a moving passenger train travelling from Nikopol toward Kryvyi Rih killed a civilian and injured at least six others.August 6, a Russian drone struck railway equipment and facilities near Lozova station in Kharkivska region, killing 2 railway workers and injuring 11 civilians.On August 13, a Russian drone hit a locomotive—the engine car—attached to a passenger train near Buialyk station in Odeska region, killing the train driver, Vasyl Morozov, 50, and his assistant, Ivan Shevchyk, 41. A second drone hit a replacement diesel locomotive dispatched several hours later to move the damaged train to Odesa city.Beyond the physical damage, railway workers described mounting psychological strain as attacks and emergency evacuations became increasingly frequent throughout the year. The conductor of the train attacked on August 13 said family members have urged her to leave the profession because of the dangers, and the deputy train manager said his children asked him to stop working on trains.Railway staff said the growing threat prompted changes to safety protocols in mid-2026, including more precautionary stops during which railway staff direct passengers to leave a train for minutes or hours before they can continue their journey. Train staff interviewed said that as of September, they were conducting multiple evacuations on every route. Oleksandr Shevchenko, deputy head of passenger services at Ukrzaliznytsia, told Human Rights Watch that during September, passengers were evacuated from 15 trains shortly before Russian attacks struck those trains.The repeated attacks have also strained Ukrzaliznytsia's ability to maintain services and replace damaged equipment. Shevchenko said Russian forces had damaged or destroyed more than 500 locomotives since 2022, including more than 300 in 2026 alone. With limited domestic manufacturing capacity, replacing damaged locomotives and other railway vehicles has become increasingly difficult, he said. The railway also operates medical evacuation and diplomatic train services with its remaining equipment.The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) documented a sharp increase in Russian attacks on railway infrastructure between mid-2025 and mid-2026. From June to November 2025, OHCHR verified 78 Russian attacks on railway infrastructure. Between December 2025 and May 2026, it verified 142 Russian attacks, an 82 percent increase compared to the preceding 6 months. From June to September 2026, OHCHR verified another 130 Russian attacks. The strikes damaged railway tracks, stations, locomotives, railway energy infrastructure, and passenger trains, threatening essential civilian transportation and evacuation services. Russian authorities and pro-Russian media have also stated that Ukraine has attacked passenger trains in Russia and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. OHCHR verified two attacks on railway infrastructure in Russian-occupied territory between December 2025 and May 2026. From June to September 2026, OHCHR verified another 11 Ukrainian attacks on railway infrastructure in the Russian-occupied regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea. Human Rights Watch examined one Ukrainian attack on a train in Crimea.Under international humanitarian law, parties to an armed conflict must distinguish between civilian objects and military objectives. Civilian passenger trains, railway stations, and railway equipment used for civilian purposes may not be deliberately targeted. Warring parties should cease disproportionate and deliberate attacks on civilian trains and railway facilities and should investigate attacks that may have unlawfully targeted civilian objects, Human Rights Watch said. Ukraine's international partners should continue supporting measures to protect civilians and critical civilian transportation networks from attack."Russian forces' intensifying attacks on railways are placing civilians in peril," Wille said. "Railway workers are risking their lives to evacuate civilians multiple times in a single journey, with warnings only minutes before a strike."For more details on the individual attacks on trains, see below.
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Passengers wrapped in blankets wait outside an overnight train near Derno, Volyn region, Ukraine, during one of two evacuations of the train that night because of a Russian drone threat. October 3, 2026.
© 2026 Yulia Gorbunova/Human Rights Watch
Attacks affecting civilian rail transportation are not new. In one of the deadliest incidents for civilians since Russia's full-scale invasion, a Russian cluster munition attack on the crowded Kramatorsk train station in eastern Ukraine on April 8, 2022, killed at least 58 civilians and injured more than 100 others.In the first 8 months of 2026, Ukrzaliznytsia recorded more than 1,600 Russian attacks on its rolling stock and infrastructure. Most recently, a Russian jet-powered drone reportedly struck the main railway station in the eastern city of Dnipro on October 29, hitting a crowded platform and killing at least 13 people.Oleksandr Shevchenko, deputy head of passenger services at Ukrzaliznytsia, told Human Rights Watch that Russian attacks initially focused primarily on railway infrastructure. Since 2026, however, Russian forces have increasingly struck moving passenger trains and locomotives or engines, he said. Passenger trains do not transport active military personnel, although individual off-duty Ukrainian soldiers may be among the passengers.A September 13 attack that damaged the locomotive of a fuel train occurred shortly after a separate train carrying former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, and other international officials had passed through the station after attending a Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv. August 13 Attack on a Locomotive Attached to a Passenger Train in Odeska RegionThe August 13 drone attack that killed the train driver and his assistant was on a train carrying approximately 340 passengers, including 67 children, and 14 crew members. No passengers were injured.Human Rights Watch interviewed four crew members who survived the attack. Mykola Zakharchenko, the train manager, said railway officials issued an evacuation warning shortly before 7 a.m., but the drone struck before the train had come to a complete stop."The train driver notified us there would be a stop and evacuation," Zakharchenko said. "Then about 50 seconds later there was an explosion and the train shook."The deputy train manager, Oleksandr Smolnakov, said railway personnel immediately began evacuating passengers after the explosion. Olga Poniuk, a conductor with nearly 25 years of railway experience, described trying to keep passengers calm."I needed to evacuate, but without spreading panic among passengers," she said. "Almost every compartment in my carriage had children in it."The dangers continued after the initial strike. Zakharchenko said that while railway personnel attempted to transport the train to Odesa city, monitoring teams twice warned of additional drones in the area, prompting workers to take cover under nearby trees. Following the second warning, another drone struck a replacement diesel locomotive connected to the damaged passenger train to move it to Odesa, just a short distance from the initial attack.Zakharchenko said railway personnel later showed him flight-path data indicating that one of the drones had circled the area before striking the locomotive. Crew members provided photographs and videos of the aftermath of the attack.The Wrong Side, a Russian military-affiliated Telegram channel, published the video feed of a drone tracking a train entering Buialyk station. The video cuts and then shows the same train at the station with smoke coming from the locomotive section of the train and a fire truck nearby. The caption says that a Geran, a Russian-produced Shahed-type drone, was used in the attack.August 6 Attack on a Railway Flaw Detection Car Near Lozova StationThe August 6 drone attack that killed 2 railway workers and injured 11 civilians, according to Ukrainian authorities, struck railway equipment and facilities near Lozova station in Kharkivska region.Nina Zabila, the station head, told Human Rights Watch that the drone struck a railway flaw detection car—a specialized rail vehicle that scans tracks for hidden cracks and damage before they cause accidents—that was parked near the station and damaged station facilities. Emergency responders identified the weapon as a Geran drone."We heard a strange sound and then an explosion," Zabila said. "Then I saw blood on the people who were injured." She said she was unaware of any military targets nearby.The Russian Ministry of Defense posted a video capturing the moment prior to the attack on the station. The video shows a drone feed tracking and closing in on the railway flaw detection car at the station. A local Ukrainian news channel published a video of the aftermath.March 2 Attack on a Moving Passenger Train Near Kryvyi RihThe March 2 drone attack that killed a civilian and injured at least six others struck the fifth carriage of a moving passenger train traveling from Nikopol toward Kryvyi Rih, said Vitaliy Zhuravsky, the train driver.Zhuravsky said no air raid alert was in effect when a Shahed drone struck shortly after 1 p.m."I only heard it when the explosion happened," he said. "Then I used the emergency brakes."Zhuravsky and his assistant evacuated approximately 40 to 50 passengers to a nearby tree cover, fearing further strikes. Drones continued flying overhead, he said, and Russian attacks struck railway facilities in nearby Apostolove while emergency responders assisted passengers.June 4 Attack by Ukraine on a Locomotive in CrimeaHuman Rights Watch examined one incident of a Ukrainian attack on a train. On June 4, Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-appointed head of occupied Crimea, stated that a Ukrainian drone attack on a local train—a railbus—traveling between Azovske and Kerch had killed one civilian and injured three others. Human Rights Watch verified a video uploaded to Telegram on June 4 by Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, showing a drone striking a railbus near Vladislavivka, a town in Russian-occupied Crimea between Azovske and Kerch.Human Rights Watch matched characteristics of the railbus visible in the drone footage and found they were consistent with the RA-3 railbus, a train used for local passenger transport in Crimea. Researchers were unable to identify and interview anyone involved in the attack or independently verify the reported casualties or whether the train was being used for military purposes at the time. International Humanitarian LawUnder international humanitarian law, parties to an armed conflict must distinguish between civilian objects and military objectives. Civilian passenger trains, railway stations, and railway equipment used for civilian purposes may not be deliberately targeted.However, such infrastructure can serve a dual purpose and may be used by the military for operations, although that alone does not make it a military objective. Under Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (article 52), to be a legitimate target, the infrastructure must make "an effective contribution to military action" and its destruction "in the circumstances ruling at the time, must offer a definite military advantage."Dual-use infrastructure is to be presumed a civilian object. Attacks designed to leave the rail transport system in general unable to function or to deter civilian travel or use of railways are not permitted. Even when attacking a lawful military objective, disproportionate attacks that cause excessive civilian harm are prohibited, and parties must take all feasible precautions to minimize civilian harm. Serious violations of international humanitarian law committed with criminal intent may amount to war crimes.
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