A Ukrainian soldier has described the moment a passenger train was targeted by Russian drones, killing five people.
When a carriage on the train was hit in northeastern Ukraine, passengers threw themselves on the floor in panic and the military officer told them to get out immediately. Without his instruction, issued moments before the carriage burst into flames, many more passengers could have died.
The officer, known by the call-sign Omar, is part of Ukraine's 93rd brigade. He was among the passengers travelling on a route from Chop, on the border with Slovakia, to Barvinkove, the last stop before the front line in eastern Ukraine.
The first of three Russian drones landed near the train, forcing it to come to a halt. Then we heard the rumble of another drone, and then an explosion, Omar told the BBC. The blast was so strong that parts of the carriage shattered into splinters. As the commander of a drone unit, he quickly realised he and the other passengers had to get out as the train could get hit again. In total, 291 people were on the train at the time, according to officials.
After the second hit, Omar understood that the drone operator was observing the kind of target it was hitting; a stationary train was an easy target. The carriage that suffered a direct hit quickly became engulfed in flames. I am in the military and I am prepared for such attacks, he noted. But for others, it was a shock to be so close to death. Many passengers evacuated the train in a state of deep distress, while videos from the scene showed people screaming and crying as they moved away from the smouldering wreck.
It was too dangerous for such a large number of people to stay near the burning carriages, so Omar urged them to start moving towards a nearby motorway. He then went back to the train with some other passengers to check if anyone had been left behind. Inspecting the carriages, he saw a body and continued to look for survivors. Five people lost their lives in the attack.
In the final carriage, Omar found a young woman with a baby. She was very scared and had no idea what to do but thank God she was alive, he said. She barely had time to put on warm clothes and screamed that she needed to go back to retrieve her suitcase and documents, explaining that she had come to bring her son to her soldier husband at the front line.
The attack on the passenger train in Kharkiv region has drawn condemnation from President Volodymyr Zelensky, characterising it as terrorism that hits the heart of the railway network in the country. Millions of Ukrainians rely on this extensive network, which has largely remained operational despite previous attacks and adverse weather conditions.
Wednesday saw flags at half-mast in railway stations across Ukraine, with a nationwide minute of silence dedicated to the victims of the drone strike. Services on the Barvinkove-Chop line resumed hours after the attack, underscoring the resilience of the country's railway system.
