At least 12 people were killed and dozens injured in overnight Russian drone and missile strikes across Ukraine, including an attack on a passenger train transporting nearly 200 civilians, authorities said. The attacks come just days after Russian and Ukrainian negotiators held talks aimed at ending nearly four years of war.

In the northeastern Kharkiv region, a drone struck a carriage of a train, killing at least five passengers, according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko. President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the strike, stating on Telegram, “There is not and cannot be any military justification for killing civilians in a train carriage.” Prosecutors posted images of the smoldering carriage on social media, which emergency services later confirmed had been extinguished.

Meanwhile, in the southern city of Odesa, a barrage of more than 50 Russian drones killed three people and injured over 30, including a 39-week pregnant woman and two young girls, according to regional officials. The Black Sea port city, crucial for Ukrainian exports, has been routinely targeted by Russian forces. Witnesses reported collapsed facades, damaged residential buildings, and rescue teams searching rubble for victims.

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Additional casualties were reported across eastern and southern Ukraine: a couple aged 45 and 48 were killed in Sloviansk in Donetsk, a 58-year-old man died in Zaporizhzhia, and a 72-year-old woman was killed by shelling in Kherson, officials said. Russian drone and missile attacks also disrupted power, lighting, and heating for millions, as winter temperatures remain freezing. Ukrainian private energy firm DTEK described “enormous” damage to one of its facilities in the Odesa region, while state gas company Naftogaz reported a fire at a western Ukraine facility, marking the fifth such attack this month.

Zelensky criticized the strikes as undermining ongoing diplomacy, urging international partners to increase pressure on Moscow to end hostilities. “Every such Russian strike erodes the diplomacy that is still ongoing and undermines the efforts of partners who are helping to end this war,” he said on social media.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched 165 attack drones overnight, targeting infrastructure in multiple regions, including a facility in Lviv. The Russian Defence Ministry announced territorial gains, claiming capture of two villages in the Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions.

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