On October 29, 2026, a Russian jet drone struck the Dnipro railway station, where passengers of a suburban electric train and a regular train were on the platform. 13 people were killed, and ten more were injured. These figures were provided by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. The Chief Rabbi of Ukraine reported numerous bodies on the platform and published photographs from the scene of the tragedy.
Author: Anton Pshedinsky
The strike hit one of the platforms where train No. 866 Dnipro — Zaporizhzhia was standing. This was reported by “Ukrzaliznytsia” — the state railway company of Ukraine, analogous to Israel’s “Rakevet Yisrael.” An air raid alert had already been announced, and passengers were warned of increased danger. Some people remained on the platform.
What happened at the Dnipro station
The first report of mass casualties came from the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, Oleksandr Hanzha. Initially, it was known that 13 people were killed and at least five were injured. Later, the number of injured increased to ten.
The mayor of Dnipro, Borys Filatov, sharply criticized attempts to describe the incident with the neutral formula “infrastructure object hit.” He demanded to speak directly about the strike on civilian transport and the loss of life.
Rescuers, medics, and police were working at the station. According to local journalists, the injured were taken to city hospitals.
This concerns a major railway hub in eastern Ukraine. Dnipro is located about 80 kilometers north of Zaporizhzhia in a straight line. Passenger communication between the cities is maintained despite the proximity of combat zones.
The weapon used deserves special attention. The jet drone is equipped not with a conventional piston engine with a propeller, but with a jet propulsion system, allowing for higher speeds. This reduces the time available for detection, warning, and interception. The specific model of the drone used in the attack was not named by Ukrainian authorities in the initial reports.
Chief Rabbi of Ukraine: bodies of people lie on the platform
A message appeared on the verified Facebook page of the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine, accompanied by photographs of the aftermath of the Russian strike.
“In Dnipro, a Russian jet drone struck directly on the railway platform, many bodies of people lie on the platform…” he wrote, after which he offered a prayer for the salvation of people.
In the published photo, people lying on the platform are visible, with other witnesses nearby. From the photograph, it is impossible to determine who died and who was injured. Reports of charred bodies are not yet accompanied by confirmed forensic data.
For the Israeli audience, Dnipro also holds special significance. It is one of the largest centers of Jewish life in Ukraine, a city closely associated with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. The “Menorah” Jewish center is located here, along with community, religious, and educational institutions.
Many Israelis know the city by its former name, Dnipropetrovsk. In 2016, it was officially renamed Dnipro as part of Ukraine’s decommunization policy.
There is no data on the affiliation of the deceased to the Jewish community at the time of the first reports.
Zelensky demands new sanctions after passenger deaths
Volodymyr Zelensky called the incident a horrific Russian strike and confirmed that the drone attacked the platform where a suburban electric train and a regular passenger train were simultaneously located.
The President expressed condolences to the relatives of the deceased, but a significant part of the statement was devoted to the West’s sanctions policy.
Zelensky pointed out that Russia continues to attack the Ukrainian population after the lifting of certain restrictions on Russian oligarchs and the energy sector. Instead of the expected de-escalation, he stated, new strikes are occurring.
The President demanded stronger sanctions decisions from the USA, the European Union, and the G7 countries — an association of seven leading industrial democracies, which includes the USA, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
Zelensky did not claim that a specific sanctions decision directly caused the attack on the station. His argument concerns the overall policy of pressure on the Russian leadership.
The issue of protecting civilian transport has arisen more than once after attacks on the Ukrainian railway. In August, NANews reported on a Russian strike on a train in the Odessa region, which killed the driver and his assistant.
What this attack means for Israel
The Israeli railway, like the Ukrainian one, transports civilian passengers through major urban hubs. The danger of drones to transport here has long not been perceived as an abstract military problem.
In September, the chairman of the board of directors of Israel Aerospace Industries, Boaz Levy, spoke about how modern wars increasingly come directly to cities. NANews analyzed his comparison of threats to Ukraine and Israel, including issues of detection and interception of drones.
But there is a significant difference between the countries: in Ukraine, railway communication operates under conditions of a long-term full-scale war and regular passenger evacuations. According to Reuters on October 28, on one of the routes between Dnipro and Odessa, passengers had to leave the cars eight times due to the threat of attacks.
For NANews Israel News Nikk.Agency, this tragedy has several specific dimensions: the death of civilian passengers, transport safety, the Russian drone war, and the fate of a city connected with Jewish history.
The strike on the station requires an investigation to establish the weapon used, the circumstances of the target selection, and the responsibility of the command. The declared air raid alert does not exempt the attacking side from the obligation to comply with international humanitarian law.
As of Zelensky’s first statement, the final data on the identities of the deceased and the condition of the ten injured had not yet been published.
13 people died on the railway platform, waiting for the departure of civilian trains.