Russia struck Ukraine's railway infrastructure on 4 March, hitting two trains across two days and damaging facilities in Mykolaiv Oblast as part of an intensifying campaign that has averaged six strikes per day since the start of the month, railway authorities reported. The overnight drone wave also hit Kharkiv Oblast, and Russian aircraft struck a residential area in Sloviansk in Donetsk Oblast with guided bombs — the Russian attacks killed at least two civilians in these two regions.
Since late 2022, Russia has been carrying out daily drone attacks against Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure. With winter ending and its months-long terror campaign to destroy Ukraine's power grid having failed to break the country, Russia appears to be shifting its focus toward transport — targeting the railways more often.
Russia hunts Ukraine's trains: six strikes a day since March began
A Russian drone struck an empty passenger train in Mykolaiv that had arrived for technical maintenance, injuring one employee of the railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia, Deputy Prime Minister Kuleba reported. Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych called the morning timing deliberate — striking "when children need to go to school and adults to work and run errands," framing it as "conscious terrorism of the population."
Ukrzaliznytsia's monitoring group detected the drone in time and evacuated people from the train that had arrived for technical maintenance.
According to Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Administration, Russia's drone and artillery attacks damaged "transport infrastructure" in Kamianske district, "infrastructure" in Samar district, a residential house and a civilian vehicle in two other districts, with no casualties reported.
Rail traffic in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast was disrupted on 4 March due to the security situation, with several suburban services delayed, Ukrzaliznytsia said.
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The evening before, Russian drones targeted a passenger train on the Dnipro–Kovel route. Railway crews stopped the train and evacuated passengers as a precautionary measure. The drone struck a few meters from the locomotive. Once the threat passed, the train continued its journey, Kuleba noted. Nobody was injured.
Ukrzaliznytsia reported that since 1 March, Russia has launched 18 strikes on railway infrastructure — an average of six per day — damaging 41 facilities. Rolling stock is among the primary targets: 17 units have been hit, including passenger carriages, locomotives, freight cars, and specialized repair equipment. Depots and bridges have also come under attack, with the heaviest concentration of strikes near the front line.
Kharkiv Oblast: 12 casualties, rail infrastructure struck
Russian forces attacked Kharkiv city and 12 settlements across Kharkiv Oblast over the preceding 24 hours, injuring 12 people — including a child — and killing one man, the head of Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration Oleh Syniehubov reported. Russia deployed three guided aerial bombs, ten Geran-2 drones, and dozens of other drones and munitions. A 45-year-old man died in an explosion of an unknown object in Kharkiv, while a 45-year-old woman was also injured in the same incident.
Railway infrastructure was damaged in Blyzniuky and Enerhetykiv in Lozova district.
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Sloviansk: FAB-250 bombs hit residential area, one killed
Russian aircraft struck a detached-house neighborhood of Sloviansk in Donetsk Oblast at around 10:40 p.m. on 3 March with three FAB-250 bombs, the head of the city's military administration Vadym Liakh reported. The strike destroyed three detached houses entirely and damaged at least 63 more. One man was killed — his body was recovered from the rubble — and two people were injured.
Overnight drone wave: 129 of 149 intercepted
Ukraine's Air Force reported that overnight on 4 March, Russia launched 149 strike drones — Shahed, Gerbera, and Italmas types among them — from four locations in Russia, and one in occupied Crimea. Air defense intercepted or suppressed 129. Nineteen drones struck 15 locations.
In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, East Air Command air defenders downed 34 drones overnight, the oblast head said.
