Dnipro Strike

Dnipro, Ukraine. Fourteen people died Thursday when a Russian drone struck a crowded train platform, local officials said.

At least 14 more were hurt. Among them was an 11-year-old boy, Dnipropetrovsk regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said, according to BBC News. Ukraine's state railway operator, Ukrzaliznytsia, said the jet-powered drone hit a platform packed with passengers waiting for a regional train to Zaporizhzhia, DW reported.

Ukrzaliznytsia head Oleksandr Pertsovsky said an elevated threat warning had gone out before the strike. "But unfortunately there were still a large number of people on the platform," he told BBC News. Ukraine's air force intercepted three drones that day, DW reported. A fourth got through.

Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov called the strike a tragedy. Russia is "deliberately hunting civilians: on trains, at stations, in residential buildings," Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergiy Koretskyi told DW. Russia's military offered no comment. Moscow has repeatedly hit Ukraine's rail network over the course of the war, and says its attacks target infrastructure used to move troops and equipment, not civilians, BBC News reported. Strikes on Ukrainian railway facilities climbed from 1,206 last year to 1,700 so far this year, according to Ukrzaliznytsia figures cited by BBC News.

Two 15-year-old girls died that same day in a Russian missile attack on Chernihiv, in northern Ukraine, regional head Vyacheslav Chaus said, according to BBC News. Three died in Kirovohrad. A separate, hours-long drone attack on the region wounded six more, Ukraine's Emergency Services said, according to NPR.

President Volodymyr Zelensky called the Dnipro strike "horrific" and said sanctions on Russia "must not be eased for as long as this Russian war continues," DW reported. He pressed the United States, European Union and G7 nations for new sanctions.

His appeal followed a deal this month between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that eased some sanctions and allowed the United States to import Russian diesel, NPR reported. Trump has said the United States has not stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine. Zelensky told the Financial Times, in remarks reported by NPR, that Ukraine would resume strikes on Russian oil refineries now that what he called a one-sided halt to the fighting had broken down.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he was troubled that Russia keeps choosing to "opt for escalation" by targeting civilians, DW reported.

A separate local truce around the besieged city of Oleshky held into a third day, Ukraine's human rights ombudsman said, according to BBC News.