Russian Drone Kills 14 on a Dnipro Rail Platform as a Rare Truce Lets Civilians Leave Occupied Oleshky

A Russian drone struck a busy railway platform in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday, killing at least 14 people and injuring 14 others, according to Ukrainian officials cited by The Guardian. On the same day, Ukrainian and Russian officials carried out a rare joint evacuation of civilians from the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky under a local truce brokered by U.S. first lady Melania Trump.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the Dnipro attack "horrific" and said "sanctions against Moscow and its war machine must not be eased for as long as this Russian war continues," The Guardian reported. He said Ukraine had intelligence about Russian preparations for new ballistic missile strikes. "We need the means to take out all this Russian evil. We are expecting relevant decisions," he said.

Another attack on Dnipro hit a student dormitory and set it on fire, and the assaults cut power to 350,000 households, regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said, according to The Guardian. Later Thursday, Russian forces attacked Kyiv with ballistic missiles, hitting warehouses on the east side of the Dnipro River and starting a fire, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

European Council President António Costa called the Dnipro strike "cruel and devastating." "The EU will continue to increase the pressure on Russia and to support Ukraine until a just and lasting peace is achieved," he said, according to The Guardian. French President Emmanuel Macron said there was a need for "far more than a localised ceasefire," a reference to the Oleshky truce.

Zelenskyy also criticized an arrangement between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that eased some U.S. sanctions on Russia, letting Moscow release diesel onto world 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.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Ukraine's military had paused strikes on Russian oil refineries after pressure from Trump, with long-range units told in mid-October that the campaign was effectively on hold once missions already underway were completed, according to The Guardian's summary. The Journal said the pause is expected to last until after the U.S. midterm elections and possibly deeper into November.

In Oleshky, a city of about 24,000 before the war that has been under Russian occupation since 2022, the evacuation was completed "without incident," both Moscow and Kyiv said, according to RFE/RL. Buses carrying civilians left the area for the first time in more than four years. The local ceasefire has been in effect since Oct. 27, with no violations reported, and is set to last until Nov. 1.

Russian human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova said one convoy headed toward Russia after reaching Russian-occupied Crimea, and a second was bound for Ukraine. Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Lubinets, who led the Ukrainian delegation, said residents who wished to go to Ukraine were on their way to the Russian city of Anapa, from which they were to fly to Homel, in Belarus, and then travel by bus into Ukraine's Chernihiv region, a route chosen to avoid heavily mined front-line roads, RFE/RL reported. "Humanitarian aid has been delivered. The convoys have split up, and I am heading to Ukraine," Lubinets wrote.

Fewer than 2,000 people remained in Oleshky by the fall, including about 50 children, according to Melania Trump's office as cited by RFE/RL. Most are believed to be elderly. Lantratova said two people, including a sapper, were killed while clearing mines in the city, The Guardian reported. Some residents had feared "filtration" screenings while passing through Russian territory, a Ukrainian journalist told RFE/RL; no such incidents had been reported.

At a UN briefing in Geneva on Friday, Jens Laerke of the UN humanitarian office said no official request for UN support had been received for Oleshky, but called it "positive" that the two countries' human rights commissioners were involved. A UN refugee agency spokesperson said it stood ready to help when people were moved.

Lubinets and Lantratova both called for regular humanitarian missions coordinated by the U.S. first lady to help civilians in front-line areas, RFE/RL reported.

Still unknown: how many people left Oleshky and how many chose to stay, and whether the truce will be extended past Nov. 1.