site.btaRussia Attacks Odesa-Bound Train Carrying Nearly 600 Passengers, Including 15 Children, Regional Governor Says

Russian forces attacked on Sunday a train bound for the Ukrainian city of Odesa carrying nearly 600 passengers, including 15 children, Head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration Oleh Kiper said on Telegram.

"The enemy deliberately targeted a passenger train. After the first strike, when rescue teams began evacuating the passengers, there was a second attack. Fortunately, no one was injured," Kiper said, adding that 593 passengers were on board.

According to Kiper, following the first strike, the train travelling from Zhytomyr to Odesa, which was in Odesa Region at the time, was brought to an emergency stop. The locomotive caught fire in the attack.

The passengers were evacuated from the site of the strikes in an operation coordinated by the Odesa Regional Military Administration and the relevant emergency services, Kiper said.

Bulgarians in the Odesa region number more than 150,000 and were the third largest population group in Ukraine in 2001, according to the official census. About 50,000 - 60,000 Bulgarians live in the city of Odesa itself. The largest compact Bulgarian population is concentrated in the Bolhrad, Izmail and Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi districts.