Russian forces targeted a Kyiv–Sumy passenger train with two Shahed drones near Sumy on Tuesday, Sept. 8, but an early warning allowed everyone aboard to evacuate before the strikes.
According to a Telegram post by Ukraine’s state railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia, its monitoring team stopped the train at a station before the attack.
All passengers, as well as the train and locomotive crews, were evacuated in time.
“Everyone was saved – there were no injuries,” Ukrzaliznytsia said.
The railway company provided buses to take passengers to their destinations following the attack.
Ukrzaliznytsia thanked its monitoring team and railway workers for their coordinated response, as well as passengers for following instructions and the Sumy regional authorities for providing logistical support.
“Targeted strikes on passenger trains are a terrible war crime,” Ukrzaliznytsia CEO Oleksandr Pertsovskyi said, urging Ukraine’s partners to increase pressure on Russia.
The attack follows another incident on Wednesday, Sept. 2, when a Russian drone struck near passenger train No. 53/54, operating between Odesa and Dnipro, at a station on the Prydniprovska Railway.
Ukrzaliznytsia’s monitoring service also detected the threat in advance in that case, allowing passengers and crew members to reach safety before the explosion.
Russia has attacked Ukraine’s railway network more than 1,500 times in 2026, damaging 249 passenger cars and 492 locomotives, The Guardian reported.