Russian double-tap drone strike on Ukraine railway station in Shostka, Sumy region, injures 30, including 3 children (updated)

During a civilian evacuation, a Russian double-tap drone strike on a railway station in Sumy Oblast injured at least 30 people, including three children, on October 4, 2025, President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukrainian Railways reported.

Drones struck the station in the city of Shostka, in the Sumy Oblast, damaging two trains. Video from the scene shows the flaming wreckage of several carriages, including one of them.

“ A savage Russian drone strike on the railway station in Shostka, Sumy region. All emergency services are already on the scene and have begun helping people. All information about the injured is being established. So far, we know of at least 30 victims,” the President said. 

Passengers and Ukrainian Railways workers were on the scene at the moment of the attack, Zelensky said.

Oleksii Kuleba, deputy prime minister for the restoration of Ukraine and minister of communities, territories, and infrastructure development, said that Russian forces struck the railway station twice during the evacuation.

“The first strike hit the locomotive of the Tereshchynska-Novhorod-Siverskyi suburban train,” Kuleba wrote. “When the evacuation of people began, the enemy attacked again — this time hitting the electric train of the Kyiv-Shostka train.”

According to Ukrainian Railways, it was a double-tap attack. “The second strike on the electric locomotive occurred while the evacuation was already underway,” the company said in a statement.

Emergency services are on the scene, rescuers are assisting the injured, and authorities are determining the number of victims and the extent of the damage.

The mayor of Shostka, Mykola Noha, said Russian strikes have damaged the city’s electricity network, water supply, and gas system. According to the Sumy Oblast Military Administration, the city of Shostka and parts of the surrounding district in Sumy Oblast have lost electricity following Russian attacks on October 4.

Oleh Hruhorov, head of the Sumy Oblast Military Administration, said the Russian military “deliberately” hit a passenger train traveling from Shostka to Kyiv.

“The Russians could not have been unaware that they were striking civilians. And this is terror the world must not ignore,” Zelensky said.

At 4:41 p.m., the Sumy Oblast Prosecutor’s Office reported that a man was killed in this strike. His body was found inside a train car.

A man was killed in the Russian strike on the Shostka railway station in the Sumy region; his body was found inside a train car.

“The body of a 71-year-old man was discovered in a car of one of the trains struck by an enemy drone at the Shostka railway station,” the statement reads.

The criminal classification of the proceeding has been changed to Part 2, Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — the commission of war crimes resulting in death.

The Sumy Oblast Prosecutor’s Office also stated that Russian forces hit a boat with fishermen on a lake in the Shostka District of the Sumy Region with a drone, killing a 63-year-old man and wounding his 65-year-old friend.

The attack occurred around 11:20 a.m. on October 4, according to the investigation. Law enforcement officials are conducting a pre-trial investigation into war crimes resulting in death under Part 2, Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called for increased pressure on Russia following “shocking scenes” from the Shostka railway station. 

“The shocking scenes emerging from Shostka railway station highlight Russia’s reckless and continued willingness to target civilians. The EU and its global partners must continue ramping up the pressure on Russia until it finally accepts a just and lasting peace,” she stated on X. 

Russia previously targeted railway infrastructure in Odesa Oblast on October 2. One person was injured, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration Oleksii Kuleba stated.

The strikes demonstrate Russia’s ongoing strategy of attacking civilian infrastructure to pressure Kyiv, as Moscow continues to dismiss calls for an unconditional ceasefire.