Ukraine ‘under fire’: Russian strikes on railways, petrol stations and shipping kills two
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Ukraine ‘under fire’: Russian strikes on railways, petrol stations and shipping kills two")
Smoke rises above the city following an air attack in Kyiv on September 23, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Photograph: (AFP)
Russian strikes hit Ukraine’s railways, petrol stations and Black Sea shipping, killing at least two people. Kyiv says attacks on civilian transport infrastructure are intensifying.
At least two people were killed after Russian strikes on civilian transport infrastructure across Ukraine on Wednesday (Sep 23). The renewed attacks damaged the country’s railways, petrol stations and shipping.
In Kyiv and the surrounding region, a 42-year-old man who was wounded in a strike on a petrol station later died in hospital. A railway worker returning home after his shift was also injured by shrapnel.
Oleksandr Pertsovsky, head of Ukrainian Railways, said Kyiv’s rail network was “under fire” and urged passengers using the capital’s central station to exercise “maximum” vigilance.
Ukraine’s railways have continued operating throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began in February 2022, providing a crucial link for civilians and the wider economy.
Pertsovsky earlier told AFP that attacks on railway infrastructure had been worsening every week. One recent strike also hit a train carrying diplomats near the Polish border.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of seeking to “cripple the economy and destroy people's lives” through attacks on transport and other infrastructure.
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Odesa ship captain killed
The attacks extended to Ukraine’s Black Sea shipping routes, where the captain of a cargo vessel was killed in a Russian strike near the southern port of Odesa.
Odesa regional governor Oleg Kiper said the Ukrainian captain was in charge of the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged vessel.
The incident comes amid a broader escalation involving commercial shipping in the Black Sea. Turkey’s IMEAK Chamber of Shipping says at least 226 civilian and commercial vessels have been hit since the conflict began. Of those, 163 attacks – about 70 per cent – occurred during the first eight months of this year.
Turkey has proposed that Russia and Ukraine stop attacks on civilian vessels, but no agreement has followed.
“The recent attacks on commercial vessels in the Black Sea are unacceptable, regardless of who is responsible,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.
Moscow says military targets were hit
Russia’s defence ministry said its latest strikes on the Kyiv region targeted a warehouse and businesses involved in producing drones for Ukraine’s armed forces.
It also said similar facilities in the Odesa region were targeted, along with a vessel carrying military cargo.
