photo: Dnipro Operative/A passenger train attacked by a Russian jet drone in the Odesa region, Ukraine
Russia struck two passenger trains in Ukraine’s Odesa region, killing a driver and his assistant and injuring a child. The first train was already slowing for a safety evacuation when a jet-powered drone changed course and hit the locomotive cab.
A Russian jet-powered drone hit the locomotive of the Dnipro–Odesa passenger train near Buialyk station in the Berezivka district this morning. The train was carrying 340 passengers, including 67 children, according to Suspilne Odesa.
None of the passengers was injured. Emergency services evacuated them from the railway and 12 buses later took them to Odesa. Passengers interviewed by Suspilne said train staff told them to take essential belongings and leave the carriages quickly.
The locomotive crew did not survive. The victims were driver Vasyl Morozov and assistant driver Ivan Shevchyk, both employees of the Znamianka locomotive depot. The Znamianka city authorities declared 14 August a day of mourning.
The Odesa Regional Prosecutor’s Office opened a criminal investigation under Article 438 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code for violations of the laws and customs of war resulting in deaths. Investigators were documenting the remains of the drone and damage to the train.
The Passenger Train Was Already Slowing for Evacuation
Ukrzaliznytsia had detected the drone before it reached the train. According to company CEO Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, the railway’s monitoring team identified the threat and ordered the train to stop near the station so that passengers could be moved to safety. The jet-powered drone then changed direction while the train was still approaching the stopping point. The locomotive crew did not have enough time to stop completely and leave the cab.
Pertsovskyi later told Suspilne that the drone had hit directly into the locomotive cab. He also said he believed this type of drone could be controlled through a video camera, allowing the operator to see the target during the final stage of the attack. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said the operator could not have failed to recognise the train as a civilian object.
Russia Strikes a Second Passenger Train Hours Later
The Buialyk attack was not the only strike on a passenger train in the region today. Several hours later, Russian forces hit another passenger train in the Berezivka district. The locomotive caught fire, as did dry vegetation beside the railway. Emergency services evacuated 525 people, including 130 children, according to the Odesa regional authorities. One child was injured.
The two attacks affected trains carrying at least 865 passengers in total, including 197 children, in a single day. The incidents also disrupted normal railway operations. Odesa Railway temporarily cancelled suburban services between Odesa and Kolosivka, Martynivska and Pomichna, and trains in the opposite direction. Suspilne Odesa reported that the changes were introduced because of the security situation after the attacks.
The Odesa strikes were not the first attacks on a Ukrainian passenger train this year. In January, three Russian Shahed drones struck a passenger service in the Kharkiv region. One hit a carriage directly. The train was carrying 291 passengers. RAILTARGET reported on the attack at the time.
Jet-Powered Shaheds Leave Railways Less Time to React
Russia is using jet-powered attack drones more frequently. Yurii Ihnat, head of communications for the Ukrainian Air Force Command, said on 14 August that these drones can account for up to two thirds of the UAVs used during some Russian attacks, andnoted that this does not apply to every attack and that conventional Shaheds still remain more numerous overall. ArmyInform also reported that Russia used five times more jet-powered UAVs in July than in June.
During the overnight attack into 14 August, Russia launched 108 attack drones, according to Ihnat. More than 30 were jet-powered. The newer drones are also considerably faster than older propeller-driven Shaheds. Reuters reported in July that some jet-powered variants can reach around 500 km/h, while Ukraine is developing faster interceptor drones specifically to counter them.
For railway operations, speed affects the time available between detecting a threat and getting a train to a place where passengers and crew can leave safely. At Buialyk, Ukrzaliznytsia had already detected the UAV and started that procedure, but the drone still reached the locomotive before the crew could complete it.
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