Wars 2022 02/24 Monitoring Russian and Ukraine War.

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https://www.newagebd.net/post/europe/320125/russian-drone-strike-kills-14-at-ukraine-train-station

Russian drone strike kills 14 at Ukraine train station
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine

In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on October 29, 2026, Ukrainian rescuers carry an injured person on a stretcher following an air attack on the railway station in Dnipro, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. | AFP photo.

A Russian drone slammed into a busy platform at a railway station in Ukraine’s Dnipro on Thursday killing at least 14 people in what President Volodymyr Zelensky called a ‘horrific’ attack that demands a response from Kyiv’s allies.

The strike came as Ukraine and Russia strive to uphold a fragile local ceasefire in the ravaged city of Oleshky — under Russian occupation since 2022 and where residents have faced months of food, water and medicine shortages.

The truce was holding into its third day, both countries said, with the Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets announcing that he had ‘set out with the Ukrainian delegation towards Oleshky’ through Belarus and Russia.

But elsewhere, Moscow continued to pummel Ukraine.

The strike at the Dnipro train station hit a platform ‘where a regular commuter train and a regular passenger train were standing’, Zelensky said.

By early Thursday afternoon, Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Oleksandr Ganzha said the death toll from the strike had risen to 14.

Another 14 had been wounded, he said, adding that six of them were in severe condition after suffering ‘multiple shrapnel wounds’, including an 11-year-old boy and a man who had ‘both legs amputated’.

Zelensky slammed the attack as ‘horrific’ and insisted that ‘sanctions against Moscow and its war machine must not be eased for as long as this Russian war continues’.

Images released by Ukrainian emergency services showed bodies on the platform, rescuers helping victims to safety and two burnt-out passenger trains with their windows shattered.

French President Emmanuel Macron reacted with outrage to the attack, stressing the need for ‘far more than a localised ceasefire’ like the one in Oleshky.

‘It is intolerable that Russia continues to reject all proposals to this end, choosing instead to pursue escalation and target civilians,’ he said on X.

Russia has fired drones on trains across Ukraine since the first days of its 2022 invasion — destroying hundreds of locomotives and killing several railway workers.

Ukraine’s air force said it had intercepted three jet-powered drones in a daytime attack, but that a fourth evaded its defences and hit the station.

In the aftermath of the attack, Zelensky refreshed his criticism of a deal struck this month between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to ease some sanctions on Russia allowing Moscow to release diesel onto global markets.

‘How many such terrorist strikes has Russia carried out against our people since sanctions were lifted on some Russian oligarchs and the energy sector, instead of de-escalating,’ he asked.

At least six others were killed across Ukraine in separate Russian attacks, according to local officials.

A strike on the city centre of Chernigiv, north of Kyiv, killed two 15-year-old girls and wounded nearly two dozen others, including four children, the head of the city’s military administration, Dmytro Bryzhynsky, said.

A drone also slammed into a multi-storey residential building in the central city of Kremenchuk, killing three and wounding several — including a six-year-old — the local governor said.

Russia has intensified drone and missile attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks, hitting energy sites around major cities in what Kyiv says is a bid to plunge the country into cold and darkness throughout the winter.

The Kremlin earlier this week vowed not to let up in the overall pace of the war even as the sides prepare to restart stalled talks under US mediation.

Zelensky said on Wednesday it would be a ‘huge success’ if the local ceasefire in Oleshky — brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump — allowed for the evacuation of stranded citizens.

Locals trapped there have resorted to hunting and eating pigeons in recent months, former residents in touch with those in the city said.

Russia and Ukraine are to meet next month with US envoys to discuss ways to end Europe’s worst conflict since World War II, with no firm dates set for the talks yet.

Several previous rounds have failed to move the sides closer to a deal.

Russia demands more territory in eastern Ukraine and sweeping military and political restrictions on Kyiv.

Ukraine and its allies say ceding ground to Moscow would be tantamount to a capitulation and leave Kyiv vulnerable to future Russian attacks.​

 

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Russia's blockade of Ukraine is a threat to global food security — and Bangladesh should take note

Joint statement by the ambassadors and high commissioners of the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain to Bangladesh: Michael Miller, Sarah Cooke, Ajit Singh, Christian Brix Møller, Jean-Marc Séré-Charlet, Rüdiger Lotz...

en.prothomalo.com

Russia's blockade of Ukraine is a threat to global food security — and Bangladesh should take note

Russia has recently stepped up attacks targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Reuters

At a time when 7.8 per cent of the world’s population faces hunger, one of the world’s most important grain routes is again under attack. Russia is choking off Ukraine’s ability to export food through the Black Sea, the Danube River and overland corridors. Its deliberate strikes on ports, warehouses, inland logistics, shipping and agricultural infrastructure are an assault on global food security, disrupting trade, energy and fertiliser markets.

This is a hard economic and humanitarian fact: when grain cannot leave Ukraine, global markets tighten, prices rise and vulnerable countries pay the price.

The timing could hardly be worse. As Ukraine entered the harvest season in August, attacks on transport routes and export facilities trapped grain, oilseeds and other agricultural products inside the country. Grain exports in August were cut by half compared with 2025. International prices have already reacted. And the pressure may intensify in the months ahead.

In October, Ukraine risks running out of storage capacity. By November, more than 9 million tonnes of grain, oilseeds and meal could remain outside available storage. A harvest capable of feeding millions could instead be left stranded. If farmers are unable to sell this season’s crop, they will have less cash for the next sowing season, reducing future production and compounding the crisis into next year.

That matters in a world where an estimated 645 million people already face hunger. Disruptions to maritime routes, energy markets, trade flows and humanitarian logistics do reverberate far beyond the immediate conflict zone as the concurrent crisis in the Middle East demonstrates. The most exposed countries and communities are the least able to absorb another shock to food prices and supplies.

Bangladesh is one of the countries that should be watching particularly closely. Wheat is this country’s second-most-consumed cereal, and Bangladesh relies on imports for more than 80 per cent of its wheat-based food needs.

That dependence leaves Bangladesh exposed to disruptions in major wheat-producing regions and to instability along global trade routes. It is not a theoretical risk. When the war disrupted supply starting four years ago, Bangladesh felt the consequences quickly through higher import costs and rising domestic prices for wheat and wheat-based foods. Inflation has remained high.

Russia has understood this from the start. Weaponising food insecurity has been part of its broader strategy since the beginning of its full-scale war of aggression. By targeting Ukraine’s export routes, Russia is not only trying to weaken Kyiv. It is also testing how much pressure the rest of the world will tolerate when food becomes collateral damage. Bangladesh is part of the collateral damage.

Ukraine’s role in world food markets explains why this matters so much. Before February 2022, Ukraine supplied 15 per cent of global corn exports, 10 per cent of wheat exports, 15 to 20 per cent of barley exports and fully 50 per cent of sunflower oil exports. It has long extended its agricultural reach deep into Asian markets. A strong harvest is again expected this year. But harvests only contribute to food security if they can reach the ports, the ships and, ultimately, the people who need them.

International efforts to ease the pressure have become a critical alternative route for Ukrainian exports and a lifeline for Ukraine’s economy.

But while overland and river alternatives can mitigate the damage, they cannot substitute for safe maritime navigation on the scale global food markets require. Indeed, freedom of maritime navigation is a global security concern, including to Bangladesh.

Open and predictable international food trade is not an abstract concern but an issue on which responsible partners need to take a stand. That is why we call for an urgent moratorium on attacks against grain export facilities, infrastructure and civilian shipping in the Black Sea. It would protect critical infrastructure, restore some stability to food markets and give farmers, traders and import-dependent governments the predictability they need.

The world must not allow food to become yet another weapon of war. A ceasefire leading to a just and lasting peace is necessary to end the daily suffering of Ukrainians and to stabilise a global food system on which millions depend. If Russia ends its war and stops attacking Ukraine’s trade lifelines, the benefits will be felt far beyond Europe — including in Bangladesh, where food security depends not only on what is grown at home, but on what can safely move across the sea.

*The opinion is written by the ambassadors and high commissioners of the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain to Bangladesh: Michael Miller, Sarah Cooke, Ajit Singh, Christian Brix Møller, Jean-Marc Séré-Charlet, Rüdiger Lotz, Antonio Alessandro, Joris van Bommel, Håkon Arald Gulbrandsen and Gabriel Sistiaga Ochoa de Chinchetru.​