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, whose army call-sign is 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 tells 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 all, 291 people were on the train at the time, officials say.
After the second hit, Omar understood that the drone operator was observing what kind of target it was hitting, and 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, says Omar. But for others it was a shock to be so close to death. Many passengers evacuated the train in a state of deep distress, and videos from the scene show people screaming and crying as they move away from the smouldering wreck.
Hours after the attack had taken place, services were running again on the Barvinkove-Chop line. Omar later found a young woman with a baby, terrified and unprepared for the chaos surrounding her. The attack on the passenger train was later condemned by President Volodymyr Zelensky as terrorism.
