Russian Strikes in Ukraine Kill 12, Hit Train and Energy

Russian attacks across Ukraine killed at least 12 people overnight on Tuesday, striking energy infrastructure and a passenger train just days after renewed peace talks between the two sides.

In the northeastern Kharkiv region, a drone hit a passenger train carrying nearly 200 people, killing at least five, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said. Images shared by prosecutors showed a train carriage engulfed in flames, later extinguished by emergency services.

President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack, saying there could be no military justification for killing civilians aboard a train. He warned that continued strikes were undermining diplomatic efforts to end the war.

In the southern port city of Odesa, a wave of more than 50 drones killed three people and wounded over 30, according to regional officials. Governor Oleg Kiper said a woman in late pregnancy and two young girls were among those injured. Residential buildings, schools, a kindergarten and a church were damaged in the attacks.

Further casualties were reported elsewhere. A married couple were killed in Sloviansk in the eastern Donetsk region, while drone and shelling attacks claimed lives in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

Energy facilities were also heavily targeted. Private power producer DTEK reported “enormous” damage to one of its sites in Odesa, while state gas company Naftogaz said one of its western facilities was set ablaze in the fifth such attack this month.

Ukrainian authorities said Russia launched 165 drones overnight, leaving millions without power, heating and light amid freezing temperatures. An infrastructure site in the western Lviv region was also hit.

Zelensky said the bombardment eroded ongoing diplomacy ahead of the next round of talks, expected on February 1. Meanwhile, Russia said its forces had captured two additional villages in the Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions as fighting continued along the front line.