Overnight Russian strikes killed 12 people across Ukraine, including at least five passengers after a drone hit a train carriage in Kharkiv Region. More than 50 drones struck Odesa, killing three and wounding dozens, while attacks on energy sites left millions without power. Officials say Russia launched roughly 165 attack drones overnight; negotiators are scheduled to resume talks on February 1.
Russian Overnight Strikes Kill 12 Across Ukraine — Train Carriage Hit, Power Infrastructure Disabled
Ukrainian energy company DTEK said the attack cause 'enormous' damage on its facilities (Oleksandr GIMANOV)(Oleksandr GIMANOV/AFP/AFP)
Russian strikes across Ukraine overnight killed 12 people, struck energy infrastructure and hit a passenger train carriage, officials said, days after negotiators from both sides met for talks aimed at ending nearly four years of war.
In the northeastern Kharkiv Region, a drone struck a carriage on a train carrying nearly 200 passengers, killing at least five people, Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on X. Prosecutors posted images of the smouldering carriage on social media, and regional emergency teams later said the blaze had been extinguished.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack on Telegram:
"There is not and cannot be any military justification for killing civilians in a train carriage."He warned that such strikes undermine ongoing diplomacy and urged allies to increase pressure on Moscow to end the war.
In the southern port city of Odesa, more than 50 drones struck, killing three people and wounding more than 30, regional officials said. The city — a crucial hub for Ukrainian exports — has been repeatedly targeted. Regional Governor Oleg Kiper said among the wounded were a woman who was 39 weeks pregnant and two young girls. An AFP reporter described a collapsed residential façade and rescue teams searching rubble for victims.
Strikes also damaged dozens of residential buildings, a church, a kindergarten and several schools, according to local officials. Private energy company DTEK said one of its facilities in the Odesa region suffered "enormous" damage, and state gas company Naftogaz reported a western facility on fire — the fifth such attack this month.
Other fatalities were reported across Ukraine: a married couple, aged 45 and 48, were killed in Sloviansk in the Donetsk region while their 20-year-old son survived; a 58-year-old man died in a drone strike in Zaporizhzhia; and a 72-year-old woman was killed by shelling at home in the Kherson region.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russian forces launched about 165 attack drones overnight and that an infrastructure facility in the western Lviv Region was hit. Officials reported widespread outages: Russian drone and missile attacks have knocked out power, heating and lighting for millions of Ukrainians amid freezing temperatures.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defence Ministry said it had captured two more villages in the Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions, signaling incremental advances along parts of the front. Negotiators from both sides met last week in the United Arab Emirates for US-brokered talks; President Zelensky said the next round is expected on February 1.
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