On the morning of August 23, 2026, in Odesa Oblast, a Russian "Shahed" jet-powered drone struck the locomotive of passenger train No. 147 on the Zhytomyr–Odesa route. This was announced by the Chairman of the Board of JSC "Ukrzaliznytsia," Alexander Pertsovsky, whose words are quoted by RBC-Ukraine. According to him, the train was carrying 593 passengers, including 15 children. Thanks to the timely actions of the UZ monitoring team, the train was stopped in the section in evacuation mode, as a result of which no one was injured.
How events unfolded on the morning of August 23
According to Alexander Pertsovsky, the "Ukrzaliznytsia" monitoring team declared an evacuation in advance and gave the order to stop the train in the section. It was precisely this decision that prevented human casualties: by the time the drone hit the locomotive, the passengers were already in evacuation mode. As a result of the incident, no one was injured. As of the time of publication, no official clarifications had been received regarding the nature of the damage to the rolling stock or the timelines for restoring traffic on this section.
Background: the tragedy of August 13
The attack on the passenger train in Odesa Oblast was not the first this month. On the morning of August 13, a Russian "Shahed" jet-powered drone delivered a targeted strike on the locomotive of a passenger train in the same region. At that time, the monitoring team also detected the threat in advance and gave the order to stop the train, which was entering the station to evacuate people. However, there was not enough time: the strike hit the cab directly, killing the locomotive engineer and his assistant. Thanks to the actions of the crew, 340 passengers were saved.
Contradictory data
There is a discrepancy between sources regarding the number of passengers on board train No. 147 at the moment of the strike on August 23. The Chairman of the Board of "Ukrzaliznytsia," Alexander Pertsovsky, whose words are quoted by RBC-Ukraine, gives the exact figure — 593 passengers, of whom 15 were children. At the same time, the outlet TSN, in its article, uses the rounded value of "about 600 passengers." The difference is probably explained by rounding in a secondary source; meanwhile, the exact figure confirmed by the railway operator is 593 people.
Context: a series of strikes on railway infrastructure
The incident of August 23 fits into a series of attacks on Ukraine's railway infrastructure. On the night of August 22, Russian forces struck a railway enterprise in Kyiv with a ballistic missile, killing one employee. Also, on the same night, a station in Odesa Oblast came under enemy attack. Thus, within the last 24 hours, railway infrastructure in two regions was subjected to simultaneous attacks of various nature — from ballistic missiles on industrial facilities to jet-powered drones on rolling stock.
