“I took my son with me to show him to his father! And I did that,” cries a young woman as other passengers pull her out of a burning train. A soldier from the 93rd Brigade who was on that train with her is carrying her child. He also recorded a video of the attack and posted it online. It’s hard to forget the frightened eyes of the few-month-old boy. It seems as if he understands everything and is therefore very calm.
On January 27th, around four o’clock in the afternoon, Russian armed forces fired on passenger train No. 47/103 carrying 155 passengers near the small town of Barvinkove in the Kharkiv region, about 50 kilometers west of Slovyansk.
The first drone, a “Geran-2” (which is the Russian version of the Iranian “Shahed” drones; Anm. d. Authors), exploded right next to the train, bringing it to a halt.
The second drone hit an overhead line, the third directly hit a train car with 18 people. Some were able to escape, others died, and others are still missing.
The large-scale Russian war of aggression against Ukraine began with the invasion on February 24, 2022. The annexation of Crimea took place in March 2014, and shortly afterwards the conflict broke out in the eastern Ukrainian regions.
The exact number of deaths has not yet been determined
The wagon burned out completely. The recovery teams found numerous body parts on site. Five fatalities are certain, but the final number will only be announced after a DNA test. “The bodies were torn to pieces and then burned,” said the Kharkiv region prosecutor’s office. A 29-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman were taken to hospital with injuries that are not life-threatening.
There is no reason and cannot be a military objective to kill civilians in one go
Wolodymyr Selenskyj
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said of the Russian attack: “In every country a drone attack on a passenger train be assessed as a pure act of terrorism. Neither in Europe nor in America, neither in the Arab world nor in China or elsewhere are there any doubts about this classification. There is no reason and cannot be a military goal to kill civilians in one go,” said Zelensky.
Hybrid Russian propaganda
Virtually after each of these unprovoked attacks on civilians, the Russians launch hybrid information campaigns to spread different versions and dilute public opinion about the attack. This time, without denying the crime itself, it was claimed that a military train had been shot at here. Because a soldier from the 93rd Brigade came to help the people. But this version seems untenable because train number 47/103 is an ordinary passenger train in which anyone, including soldiers, can ride.
The train did not carry military technology freight cars, which are typical of military transport, as can be seen in videos and photos from the scene. And there is no room for it in a normal passenger carriage.
Soldiers in Ukraine can use any train to travel home or to the front. This is commonplace, especially in regions close to the front, where millions of people still live.
Drone attacks on moving targets for a year
Russia has been attacking moving targets with drones for over a year. This was possible for two reasons. On the one hand, a module for detection and target acquisition was installed in the drone control system. The drone can therefore detect a train during flight, detect it as a target, and even if radio signals are suppressed, catch up and hit the train. Russians had previously fired at locomotives while they were moving. Now they are taking a more systematic approach.
The second reason is that in Russian drones are now more common American Starlink antennas are built in that enable a stable internet connection and with which you can even control the drones manually. The Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov had already pointed this out and announced that he would contact Starlink about this.
On Wednesday morning, Ukrainian Railways said 147 passengers and a civilian evacuation party had been evacuated from the train’s 10 undamaged carriages. The train then continued its journey and arrived in Lviv about 5 hours late, despite being shelled and damaged.
“Russia must be held accountable for its actions. Not just for the attacks on our people, on our lives, but for the fact that they can carry out such attacks in the first place. The Russians have greatly expanded their ability to kill and terrorize because they invest there. And our job – and this is what should unite all ordinary people in the world – is to ensure progress in protecting life. This can be done by putting pressure on Russia and punishing Russia for its actions. To do this, Ukraine must be supported. Thank you “All those who do not remain silent when they see what Russian terrorists are doing,” said Volodymyr Zelensky.
Translated from Russian Gaby Coldewey