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A freight train operated by Ukraine’s state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia derailed on Saturday, likely as a result of an enemy Shahed-type attack drone, the company said.
According to Ukrzaliznytsia, preliminary information indicates that the freight train was hit by a detonation, presumably caused by a Shahed unmanned aerial vehicle. Further details are expected to be provided by law enforcement and security services.
The locomotive crew was injured in the incident and has been hospitalized. No passengers were hurt. Recovery operations are under way, with specialists and repair trains working at the site.
The derailment has significantly disrupted rail traffic. Passenger train No. 45/46 running from Kharkiv to Uzhhorod is facing substantial delays. Several other passenger services have been rerouted via Fastiv instead of Korosten, including routes connecting Kharkiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Uzhhorod, Chernivtsi, Przemysl, Warsaw and Kyiv. Train No. 98 from Kovel to Kyiv will exceptionally run via Zhytomyr, where delays are expected to be shorter.
Earlier on Saturday, Ukrzaliznytsia reported an аварія involving a freight train in the Zhytomyr region, which forced the emergency stoppage of a Kharkiv–Uzhhorod passenger train after a locomotive left the tracks.
The company noted that this was not the first time Russian attack drones have targeted Ukraine’s rail infrastructure. In recent weeks, Russian forces carried out repeated strikes on railway facilities in Fastiv, destroying the station building and a depot with trains.
