Ukrainian Military Police Denies Russian Claims About Kharkiv Train Drone Strike

Russian authorities have been accused of spreading disinformation about a military incident in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, according to official Ukrainian sources. The Military Police of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has firmly denied Russian claims that a unit of the 17th Special Purpose Center was destroyed in a train attack.

In a statement released through official channels, Ukraine’s Military Police categorically rejected the Russian narrative, stating: “The information circulated by Russian propaganda resources about the alleged ‘destruction of a railway train carrying personnel of the 17th Center of the Military Police’ in the Kharkiv region does not reflect reality.”

Ukrainian officials characterized the Russian claims as a deliberate attempt to reframe attacks on civilian infrastructure as legitimate military operations. The Military Police accused Russian media of cynically manipulating facts to “cover terrorist strikes against civilian infrastructure as ‘successful strikes on military targets.'”

The denial comes amid confirmed reports of a Russian drone strike on a passenger train at Barvinkove station in the Kharkiv region. The Barvinkove-Lviv-Chop passenger train was carrying 291 civilians when it was attacked. By the evening of January 28, authorities had recovered fragments of six bodies from the wreckage, with forensic examinations still ongoing. Initial reports had mentioned four fatalities and two injuries, with rescue workers searching for four additional missing persons.

The Military Police confirmed that one serviceman from the 17th Center, identified as Ruslan Nadich, was killed during the enemy strike on the railway. Nadich, who had been serving since 2014 in high-conflict areas and had been awarded the Golden Cross for his service, was en route to perform official duties when the attack occurred.

Ukrainian authorities were particularly critical of additional Russian claims regarding troop movements, stating: “The report about allegedly ‘redeploying the 17th Center of the Military Police to prevent mass desertion among Ukrainian Army units’ is as much a fabrication and lie as the statements of their ‘paper leadership,’ which have already, a hundred times, liberated Kupiansk and other front-line locations.”

The incident highlights the ongoing information warfare that accompanies the physical conflict in Ukraine. Disinformation campaigns have been a consistent feature of the war, with both sides accusing each other of misrepresenting events on the ground.

The attack on civilian railway infrastructure represents a concerning escalation in targeting of non-military assets. International humanitarian law prohibits deliberate attacks on civilian targets, making such incidents potential war crimes if investigations confirm intentional targeting.

“The Russian Federation once again demonstrates its essence, using the deaths of people and strikes on civilian objects as an instrument of deceit and propaganda,” the Military Police statement concluded.

This incident occurs amid intensified Russian military activity in the Kharkiv region, which shares a border with Russia and has been a focal point of the conflict since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. The region has experienced periodic offensives and counteroffensives, with control of certain areas changing hands multiple times.

The targeting of transportation infrastructure also raises concerns about Ukraine’s ability to move both military personnel and civilians throughout the country, as railway networks remain critical lifelines for a nation under siege.

Ukrainian authorities continue to document such incidents as part of broader efforts to build evidence for future accountability processes regarding potential violations of international humanitarian law.