Russian drone strike on Dnipro rail platform kills 14, Ukrainian officials say

A Russian jet-powered drone struck a platform at the main railway station in Dnipro on Thursday, Oct. 29, killing at least 14 people, Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Oleksandr Ganzha said on Telegram. The first count was 13 dead. Ganzha raised it to 14 by early afternoon.

Ukrainian Railways said the platform was where train No. 866 was waiting to leave for Zaporizhzhia. Ukraine's air force said it intercepted three jet-powered drones in the daytime attack, but a fourth got through.

The Dnipro strike

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the drone hit a platform "where a regular commuter train and a regular passenger train were standing." Images released by Ukrainian emergency services show bodies on the platform and two burnt-out passenger trains with shattered windows.

The injured count has moved through the day. Early figures ranged from at least five to at least 10. Ganzha later said 14 were wounded, six of them severely, including an 11-year-old boy and a man who lost both legs.

Oleksandr Pertsovsky, head of Ukrainian Railways, said a heightened threat alert had been issued before the strike. "But unfortunately there were still a large number of people on the platform," he wrote on Facebook.

The railway network has been a steady target. The national operator says passengers were evacuated from more than 5,800 train services in September alone because of drone threats.

Other cities hit

At least five more people died in daytime strikes elsewhere. In Chernihiv, two 15-year-old girls were killed on a busy downtown street and nearly two dozen people were wounded, including four children, according to Dmytro Bryzhynskyi, head of the city's military administration.

In Kremenchuk, a drone hit an apartment building, killing three and wounding 15, the regional governor said. One man was killed overnight in the Rivne region, and Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said an educational institution there was damaged.

Russia and Ukraine both deny deliberately targeting civilians.

Sanctions and the diplomatic backdrop

Zelensky used the attack to renew his criticism of a deal struck earlier this month between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The deal eases certain sanctions on Moscow so Russia can supply diesel to global markets.

"How many such terrorist strikes has Russia carried out against our people since sanctions were lifted on some Russian oligarchs and the energy sector, instead of de-escalating?" Zelensky wrote on X. He added that sanctions "must not be relaxed while this Russian war continues" and called for "fair and decisive actions by America and Europe."

His reference to oligarchs also points to the EU's suspension of measures against two Russian billionaires. Zelensky has linked the strikes to the sanctions relief. Neither Washington nor Moscow has been quoted tying the two together, and the Kremlin did not address the Dnipro strike in the statements available today.

French President Emmanuel Macron called the attack part of Russia's choice "to pursue escalation and target civilians." He said it is "intolerable" that Russia rejects proposals for a broader ceasefire than the local one now in place.

That local truce is a six-day humanitarian pause brokered with US help. Moscow has said it covers only Kherson region, so aid can reach Oleshky, a Russian-occupied town cut off since the 2022 invasion. Both countries said it was holding into its third day. Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said he had set out with a Ukrainian delegation toward Oleshky through Belarus and Russia.

Ukraine's drones over Moscow

The fighting is also running in the other direction. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 613 Ukrainian drones flew toward the Moscow region between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning. He said 231 were destroyed on the approach to the city and the rest were neutralised on distant approaches.

Russia's Defence Ministry said air defences destroyed 1,214 Ukrainian drones overnight across the country. Debris caused minor damage at an industrial site in Sterlitamak, in Bashkortostan, where Mayor Emil Shaimardanov said the plant kept operating.

The Moscow attack coincided with a Russia-Africa summit hosting more than 22 African leaders. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called it "very strange" for Kyiv to target the capital at that moment. A record attack in September saw Russian air defences report shooting down more than 1,600 drones.

What comes next

Zelensky has said Ukraine, the United States and Russia are set to hold trilateral talks in November to revive stalled peace negotiations. No date has been given in the statements released so far. Whether the Kherson truce holds through its six days, and whether Lubinets's delegation reaches Oleshky, will be the first test of how much room that diplomacy has.