Russia launched a massive drone assault on Wednesday targeting Ukraine’s railway network, with 23 strikes recorded on infrastructure as part of a broader attack involving hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), Ukrainian officials said.
Presidential communications adviser Dmytro Lytvyn said trains were halted and passengers evacuated in advance, preventing casualties among travelers, according to Ukrinform.
“As a result of the attack, we have 23 hits on railway facilities. No injuries/deaths of passengers were [sustained]. The trains were stopped by the monitoring team, evacuated ahead of time,” Lytvyn said.
However, civilians were killed in a related incident. According to Lytvyn, two railway workers who were off duty died in the city of Zdolbuniv, while another person was injured.
The strikes caused extensive damage to infrastructure, including three locomotives, seven suburban cars, eight freight wagons, five traction substations, five depots, and two bridges, he said.
Earlier this year, Ukraine’s state railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia restricted the publication of train schedules and routes to reduce the risk of Russian strikes, after previous attacks relied on predictable movements.
Large-scale drone assault
The railway strikes were part of a wider drone offensive.
In a statement on Telegram, Ukrainian officials said Russia launched more than 750 attack drones in a single operation, with around 710 shot down by air defenses, using the territory of Belarus and Moldova for the flight towards Ukraine.
The scale of the attacks reflects a growing reliance on drone warfare. According to data, Russia launched 6,583 long‑range drones in the past month, about two percent more than in March, which was also a record at the time.
Ukrainian defenses intercepted approximately 88 percent of drones and missiles in April, following a previous record in March when 906 drones were destroyed during a 24-hour period, highlighting a sharp rise in both the volume of attacks and interception rates.
For comparison, the largest single overnight attack occurred in September 2025, when Russia launched 805 drones, with Ukraine intercepting 751 targets within several hours.
Despite the high interception rate, strikes still hit 37 locations across the country.
The latest assault underscores both the intensity of Russian strikes on critical infrastructure and Ukraine’s growing reliance on air defense systems to counter increasingly large‑scale drone campaigns.