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Explosion, fires reported in Russia's Sochi following Ukrainian drone attack
Confirmed
In Short: No casualties were reported after a Russian drone attack on a train near the Ukraine-Polish border, prompting Ukrainian officials to renew calls for air defenses.
No casualties were reported after the strike at Yahodyn, which hit the train's engine, according to the BBC.
All the passengers had been evacuated, Ukrainian authorities said.
Russia claimed it had struck 'railway infrastructure' in western Ukraine, but Ukraine's state railway company said the target could have been the diplomatic train.
The attack occurred just 15 minutes after an evacuation order for passengers on the hit train had been given by a Russian jet-propelled drone.
Both Ukrainian and Polish authorities said the Russian drone had struck 2km from the Polish border.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the 'barbaric strikes' at the Ukraine-Polish border amounted to 'Putin's terror knocking directly on the doors of the EU and NATO' and renewed calls for more sanctions on Moscow.
The Russian attacks have significantly damaged Ukraine's vast train network, the main mode of transportation for millions of Ukrainians as all air travel has been suspended since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
The incident comes after two people were killed when Russian drones hit a border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
What's confirmed
- No casualties were reported after the strike at Yahodyn, which hit the train's engine, according to the BBC.
- All the passengers had been evacuated, Ukrainian authorities said.
- Russia claimed it had struck 'railway infrastructure' in western Ukraine, but Ukraine's state railway company said the target could have been the diplomatic train.
- The attack occurred just 15 minutes after an evacuation order for passengers on the hit train had been given by a Russian jet-propelled drone.
- Both Ukrainian and Polish authorities said the Russian drone had struck 2km from the Polish border.
- Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the 'barbaric strikes' at the Ukraine-Polish border amounted to 'Putin's terror knocking directly on the doors of the EU and NATO' and renewed calls for more sanctions on Moscow.
- The Russian attacks have significantly damaged Ukraine's vast train network, the main mode of transportation for millions of Ukrainians as all air travel has been suspended since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
- The incident comes after two people were killed when Russian drones hit a border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
What's still developing
- He said this was "the kind of random and senseless attack Ukrainians are enduring every day - even on civilian railways" and urged Kyiv's allies to urgently provide Ukrainians "the air defences they need".
- Last week, Germany said Russia was responsible for August's drone attack at Leipzig's airport - a claim denied by Moscow as "absurd".
- Watch: Why Russian strike on train near Ukraine-Poland border could mark an escalation A Russian drone has hit a train near the Ukraine-Poland border shortly after former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and top European security officials had passed through.
- In brief: Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said NATO has “overwhelming superiority” in air power and could defeat Russia “quite quickly” if Moscow attacked, adding that Europe could destroy Russia’s remaining refining capacity in weeks.
- “If Russia attacked us and we took our gloves off, I think we would defeat Russia quite quickly. We have overwhelming superiority over Russia in air power. General, correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s something like 2,500 aircraft,” Sikorski said during a Sept. 12 discussion at the annual Yalta European Strategy meeting in Kyiv.
- “But if the Ukrainians have knocked out half of Russia’s refining capacity in six months, we could do it in six weeks and take out the other half,” he said.
- With over seven years of experience in TV journalism, Alisa has reported on international and Ukrainian politics, making complex stories easier to understand.
- According to Ukrainian monitoring channels Exilenova+ and Supernova+, a large Ukrainian drone attack targeted sites in the Black Sea resort city located approximately 650 to 700 kilometers (400 to 435 miles) from the Ukrainian border in Russia's Krasnodar Krai region.