Russian Drone Hits Dnipro Train Station, Killing 14 as Passengers Waited to Board
At least 19 people died in Russian attacks across Ukraine on Thursday, and Zelensky blamed eased U.S. sanctions.
A Russian drone struck the main railway station in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday morning as people waited to board a train, killing 14 people and wounding 10 others.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said two trains were at the station when the drone hit. Footage from the scene shows several bodies on the platform. The head of the hospital where the wounded were taken told local media that many of the injured suffered shrapnel wounds and that four people were in emergency surgery.
The station was one of several civilian targets hit across Ukraine on Thursday, and authorities said at least 19 people were killed nationwide. The dead included two 15-year-old girls killed in a Russian strike on the northern city of Chernihiv. Another three people died when a Russian drone hit a residential building in the Poltava region. The attacks are the latest in a series of strikes on civilian spaces, transport and energy infrastructure.
Zelensky called the Dnipro attack "horrific" and tied it directly to Washington's sanctions policy. "Just how many terrorist strikes has Russia carried out against our people since sanctions were lifted on certain Russian oligarchs and the Russian energy sector, rather than de-escalating?" he wrote in a social media post. He said sanctions against Moscow and its war machine must not be eased for as long as the war continues.
His remarks refer to a decision earlier this month by President Donald Trump to waive a slate of sanctions related to Russian fossil fuel sales. The move angered Kyiv, which has long pushed for tougher sanctions on Russian energy exports. On Wednesday, Russian state media reported that Washington was in talks with the Kremlin to lift sanctions on Russia's multibillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund. Those sanctions were put in place by the Biden administration almost five years ago, after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. CNN has not confirmed that the talks are taking place.
The strikes came while a narrow, localized pause in fighting was in effect elsewhere on the front. In the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, Russia and Ukraine have observed a ceasefire since Tuesday that was brokered by first lady Melania Trump. The halt allows the evacuation of elderly and vulnerable residents from a city where thousands have been trapped by fighting without electricity, fresh food or water. It also lets critically needed supplies come in. Both sides have kept to the terms, and the ceasefire stays in place until 10:59 p.m. local time on November 1.
The contrast is stark. A negotiated pause covers one besieged city, while a drone can still reach a crowded station platform. Zelensky says sanctions must stay in place while the war continues.
