A Russian jet-powered Shahed drone struck the locomotive of an Odesa-Dnipro passenger train in the Berezivka district of Ukraine on Thursday morning, 13 August 2026.
The strike killed the train machinist and his assistant, Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, the chairman of Ukrzaliznytsia, confirmed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the drone operator could not have been unaware that the target was entirely civilian.
A monitoring team detected the drone and ordered the train to stop near a station, but a sudden manoeuvre left the crew insufficient time to evacuate after stopping.
Passenger evacuations
President Zelenskyy said there were 340 people on the train targeted by the drone.
All 340 passengers, including 67 children, were evacuated. While the Ukrainian State Emergency Service (DSNS) reported that 317 passengers were evacuated, other sources stated the full 340 passengers were moved.
Number of buses used to evacuate passengers to Odesa
Wider strikes and casualties
The Russian drone strike wounded one person in the Chernihiv region and three people in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. In the Odesa region, Russia targeted port infrastructure in the Izmail district.
The air force reported that Russia launched 133 drones at Ukraine overnight, with 111 intercepted.
Civilian impact in Ukraine
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission stated that at least 437 civilians were killed and 2,610 injured in Ukraine in July. The UN reported that civilian deaths in July reached the highest monthly toll since May 2022.
At least 54 civilians were killed in Kyiv during the month of July. The UN verified 16,874 civilian deaths in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion.
