Ukraine-Russia war live: Putin accused of ‘act of terrorism’ after five killed in passenger train attack

Much of my hotel near the centre of the Black Sea port city of Odesa was wrecked when Shahed drones hit close by, setting buildings opposite ablaze and blowing out walls, shattering windows and collapsing ceilings where I was staying.

I had slept through the sirens warning of an approaching attack and was wrenched out of my slumber by the first enormous explosion, which blew out windows in my room in the Hotel Alarus at around 2.20am.

Askold Krushelnycky was asleep in Odesa when Shahed drones partially destroyed his hotel, illustrating how Russia’s relentless attacks on Ukraine continue during one of the country’s harshest winters:

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has left nearly two million military personnel killed, wounded, or missing, a US think tank’s latest study shows.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies says the war has resulted in about 1.2 million Russian casualties and between 500,000 and 600,000 Ukrainian casualties.

In a new report published yesterday, the think tank said Russian forces have suffered as many as 325,000 killed since the war began nearly four years ago, accounting for the majority of the losses.

Russia is the first major power in the world to have seen this scale of casualties or fatalities since the Second World War.

Russian forces have continued to advance “remarkably slowly on the battlefield” despite the scale of the losses, it said.

At least three people were killed and 25 were wounded after Russian drones hammered the southern city of Odesa overnight.

Odesa governor Oleh Kiper said two children and a pregnant woman were among the wounded in the strikes on the city. Dozens of residential buildings, a church, a kindergarten and a high school were damaged, he said.

By midday on Tuesday, rescue workers were still digging through a mountain of rubble outside a building where emergency officials said two residents had been killed.

It was ripped open across several floors. Resident Denys Tsybulskiy stood outside the building trying to reach his neighbour, who he said was trapped under the debris but had showed signs of using his phone.

Odesa, on Ukraine’s strategically critical Black Sea coast, has come under increasing attack in recent months.

Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russian president Vladimir Putin of an “act of terrorism” after an attack by Moscow on a Ukrainian passenger train killed at least five people.

“In any country, a drone strike on a civilian train would be regarded in the same way – purely as an act of terrorism,” Zelensky said.

The war-time president said there was no “military justification” in Russia’s targeting civilians. He added that there were 18 people in the carriage that was hit and over 200 on the train in total.

Photographs posted online showed at least two carriages in flames next to a snow-covered railbed.

“Our cause – and this is what should unite all normal people in the world – is to ensure the progress of protecting life. This is possible through pressure on Russia.” he said.

A Russian drone strike on a passenger train in northeastern Ukraine killed five people, prosecutors said.

The attack set a train ablaze hours after Russian drones hammered the southern city of Odesa overnight, killing three people and wounding 25 as Moscow intensified its strikes aimed at pushing Kyiv to give up fighting.

In northeastern Kharkiv Region, prosecutors said fragments of five bodies had been found at the scene of the strike on the train by a village.

Photographs posted online showed at least two carriages in flames next to a snow-covered railbed.

The attack has been denounced as terrorism by president Volodymyr Zelensky as he called for intensified pressure on Moscow.

“In any country, a drone strike on a civilian train would be considered in exactly the same way – purely as terrorism,” Zelensky said.

“Our cause – and this is what should unite all normal people in the world – is to ensure the progress of protecting life. This is possible through pressure on Russia.” he said.

US officials have suggested that they are more amenable to backing Kyiv if the Donbas region is surrendered to Ukraine, according to the Financial Times.

More weapons were offered to Ukraine in peacetime if it agreed to withdraw forces from the eastern region, two sources told the publication.

Ukrainian and European officials suggested that the moves were an attempt to strongarm the country into ceding the entirety of the territory.

Russia currently controls 90 per cent of the Donbas region, while Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev said that the surrender of the area is the only “path to peace”.

Ukraine has said it will not give up any territory that Russia has failed to take by force.