You're reading: Rail track blast in Kharkiv Oblast qualifies as terrorist attack

Kharkiv - An explosion occurred on a railroad near the station of Zanky, the Zmiyiv district of the Kharkiv region, early on Aug. 23.

The blast did not cause casualties but damaged about 80 centimeters of a rail track, the Interior Ministry department for Pivdenna Railways reported.

The railroad section damaged by the blast has been closed, and restoration work is under way. Trains currently proceed through the area using a parallel track.

“A report on this incident has been filed with the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations, and criminal proceedings have been opened under Ukrainian Criminal Code Article 258 Part 2 (terrorist attack),” the department said.

A police department at the Osnova station received a report on a damaged rail track at 04:25 on Aug. 23.

The engineer of an electric train was first to notice the damage. Transport police officers who examined the scene together with bomb experts determined preliminarily that the damage had been caused by a blast.

About 100 passengers had to get off the train and use other transport means to get to their destination.