On September 16, 2026, Russian drones struck a passenger bus near Nikopol and a passenger train in Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv region, killing five people and injuring seven, Ukrainian officials reported. All 168 passengers and crew on the attacked train were evacuated without injuries, according to officials.
Four men and one woman died in the drone attack on the bus near the frontline city of Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Seven others were injured. Oleksandr Hanzha, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, posted a photograph showing a bus with blown-out windows after the attack, confirming casualties and damage.
In the Mykolaiv region,
the passenger train was struck twice after the initial attack. Heorhii Reshetilov, acting governor of Mykolaiv, confirmed the evacuation of 168 passengers and crew from the attacked train with no injuries.
On the same day, a locomotive in Kovel near the Poland-Ukraine border was also hit by a drone. This area had witnessed a prior strike on a Warsaw-bound train near the Poland-Ukraine border on Sunday before these incidents.
Russia has escalated attacks on Ukrainian railway infrastructure in 2026, targeting 120 passenger wagons, 304 locomotives, and 43 railway stations so far. In total, 1,700 railway facilities have been struck in
2026, compared to 1,206 in 2025 and 842 in 2024.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha condemned the attacks as deliberate targeting of civilian transport, stating, “Russian forces strike passenger trains, locomotives, stations, and railway routes knowing exactly how essential they are for civilians, evacuations, and Ukraine’s economy. This is not collateral damage. It is a systematic hunt for people and an attempt to paralyze civilian life.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the strikes as acts of brutality with no military justification. He urged the US and Europe to intensify sanctions against Russia, saying, “There is no military logic to this,
just another act of brutality.”
Since the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, Ukraine’s airspace has remained closed, making buses and trains vital links for civilians and businesses. The attacks on passenger transport disrupt rail service in the affected regions and heighten security concerns for travelers near the Poland-Ukraine border and southern Ukraine.
These strikes come just days before Russia’s parliamentary elections starting on September 18, 2026. Russian President Vladimir Putin framed participation as support for the war in Ukraine amidst continuing conflict and sustained attacks on civilian and transport infrastructure.
