At least 14 people were killed Thursday when a Russian drone struck a crowded railway platform in Dnipro, Ukrainian officials said, as further attacks in northern and central Ukraine raised fresh questions about prospects for diplomacy.
Two teenage girls died on a central street in Chernihiv, and three people were killed in strikes on residential buildings in Kremenchuk, according to the officials cited by CBC News. The reported daytime attacks brought the number of deaths across the three cities to at least 19.
The strikes came while a six-day local truce was in effect in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region. The truce was brokered with U.S. assistance and applied only to that region, where a humanitarian mission was underway to provide relief, according to CBC News.
“Russia is deliberately hunting civilians: on trains, at stations, in residential buildings. There is no justification for this terror, and there never can be.”
Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi made that statement on the Telegram app, condemning the attacks. The reported locations included a railway station, a public street and residential buildings, highlighting the spread of the strikes beyond military sites, according to Ukrainian officials.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attacks as “very cruel” in his nightly video address. He said they occurred while people were expecting steps toward de-escalation and argued that the strikes showed Russia’s position on the diplomatic process.
“We need the means to take out all this Russian evil. We are expecting relevant decisions.”
Zelenskyy also said Ukraine had intelligence about preparations for new Russian ballistic-missile strikes. His remarks did not specify when or where those attacks might occur.
Truce limited to Kherson region
The Kherson arrangement did not represent a nationwide ceasefire. Its narrow geographic scope meant that fighting and long-range attacks elsewhere in Ukraine continued as the humanitarian mission operated in the southern region.
The contrast between the local pause and the reported strikes underscored the difficulty of translating limited, area-specific agreements into broader de-escalation. The truce had raised cautious hopes for a resumption of diplomacy, but the deaths reported Thursday added pressure on Ukrainian officials and their international partners as they sought protection for civilians.
The attacks also came amid warnings from Kyiv about possible additional missile activity. Zelenskyy said Ukraine was seeking decisions and capabilities to counter the expected threat, while Ukrainian officials continued to describe the strikes as deliberate attacks on civilians.
- Dnipro: At least 14 people were killed on a crowded railway platform.
- Chernihiv: Two teenage girls died on a central street.
- Kremenchuk: Three people were killed in strikes on residential buildings.
Russian officials were not quoted in the extracted report responding to the allegations. The reported casualty figures were provided by Ukrainian officials and could change as emergency workers continued operations.
