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Russia attacks commuter train in Ukraine's Kharkiv region · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: A Russian drone strike this morning has hit a commuter
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  Speaker 1: train in Ukraine's Kharkiv region. One passenger was killed in
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the attack and several more were injured. Ukraine uses trains
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: to move troops and equipment, so Moscow has upped its
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: attacks on the rails. The vast rail system, vital, a lifeline,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: which makes it a prime target. It's also the way
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  Speaker 1: that our CBC News team travelled into Ukraine. Our Briar
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  Speaker 1: Stewart has just arrived in Kyiv, actually on this train.
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  Speaker 1: It's not the one that was targeted in that drone strike. Briar,
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  Speaker 1: take us through Moscow's upping of attacks against Ukraine's rail system.
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  Speaker 2: Well, yes, as you mentioned, I mean, the rail network
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  Speaker 2: in this country is absolutely vital, not only for moving passengers,
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  Speaker 2: but also goods, grain, resources, humanitarian aid. There are 20,000
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  Speaker 2: kilometres of track across Ukraine today.
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  Speaker 3: And really so much of.
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  Speaker 2: It now is coming under increased attack and in many
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  Speaker 2: cases threats. And not only are we seeing attacks on
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  Speaker 2: locomotives specifically, but because of the threat of drones, you
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  Speaker 2: are seeing a train system that has been severely impacted
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  Speaker 2: by just the threats and leading to multi-hour delays. Now,
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  Speaker 2: I came in on the train along with my crew
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  Speaker 2: from Lviv to Kyiv. It is one of the most
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  Speaker 2: busy routes typically because it's coming from Western Ukraine into
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  Speaker 2: the capital. And our train ride went quite smoothly. It
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  Speaker 2: was about an hour delayed, really no big deal. But certainly,
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  Speaker 2: you know, speaking to rail staff, they've talked about kind
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  Speaker 2: of this environment where there is this increased tension.
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  Speaker 3: Just this morning, a train in Kharkiv was hit by
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  Speaker 3: a drone.
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  Speaker 2: Passengers had been evacuated off that train, but what officials
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  Speaker 2: say is that At least some of them hadn't moved
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  Speaker 2: far enough away. They're supposed to move about 200 meters
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  Speaker 2: when there's a threat of a drone. And one person
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  Speaker 2: was killed and seven people were injured. And that's really
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  Speaker 2: just the latest attack. Earlier this week, there was a
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  Speaker 2: strike on a train that was just two kilometers or.
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  Speaker 3: So from the Polish border.
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  Speaker 2: And, you know, the Ukraine Railways is putting out alerts
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  Speaker 2: like this every day. I spoke with a steward that
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  Speaker 2: was on the train yesterday as we came in, and
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  Speaker 2: she told me that on one of the routes she
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  Speaker 2: took last week, passengers on board had to be evacuated.
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  Speaker 3: Five different times along the way.
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  Speaker 2: And on one of those occasions, they had to basically
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  Speaker 2: stand outside in a field for around two hours.
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  Speaker 3: So it is having a severe impact.
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  Speaker 2: You have railway operators now changing the rules, not boarding passengers,
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  Speaker 2: for instance, if there's a threat of a ballistic missile strike.
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  Speaker 2: But they basically have a team of people, Ukrainian Railways does,
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  Speaker 2: monitoring threats of drones. And now whenever there's a possibility
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  Speaker 2: that a drone could be headed for a train, they
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  Speaker 2: have to evacuate all the passengers.
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  Speaker 1: That is quite something. Nearly five years into this war, Breyer.
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  Speaker 1: Very glad to have you there. And I also want
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  Speaker 1: to get your assessment of Poland's prime minister and this
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  Speaker 1: warning being sent out to countries allied with Poland's neighbour, Ukraine.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it certainly was a very strong warning coming
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  Speaker 2: from Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland, saying that Russia
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  Speaker 2: was planning to launch a hybrid attack of missiles and
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  Speaker 2: drones against countries supporting Ukraine.
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  Speaker 3: He said it was from intelligence agencies. He didn't name
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: those intelligence agencies.
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  Speaker 2: And certainly we haven't heard that kind of language precisely
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  Speaker 2: from other European leaders. That being said, I think there
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  Speaker 2: is a lot of growing concern about Russian attacks and
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  Speaker 2: particularly hybrid warfare that European officials believe are playing out
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  Speaker 2: beyond the country of Ukraine. In recent months, EU officials
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  Speaker 2: believe that Russia has been behind a string of sabotage cases.
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  Speaker 2: Germany blamed Russia for an attempted drone attack at Leipzig
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  Speaker 2: airport in Germany over the summer.
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  Speaker 3: And I think, you know, as.
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  Speaker 2: There are more reports of these things, we are, you know,
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  Speaker 2: there's a debate, I'm sure, among European nations about how
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  Speaker 2: to respond because you have some countries like Poland that
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  Speaker 2: is really calling attention NATO to take a harder line.
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  Speaker 2: Others like Germany are kind of urging more caution, saying,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Europe doesn't want to get dragged into some
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  Speaker 2: kind of situation where they, you know, they could provoke
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  Speaker 2: another attack. But at the same time, I mean, you
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  Speaker 2: have to remember what's been going on this week, where
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  Speaker 2: Russia has been launching a number of drones very.
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  Speaker 3: Very close to the Polish border.
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  Speaker 2: And in some cases, drones are being found in countries
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  Speaker 2: like Poland and in the Baltics. perhaps not sent there intentionally,
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  Speaker 2: but drifting off course, because things like GPS jamming are
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  Speaker 2: being used to try to impede the drones. And so
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  Speaker 2: it really does create a very concerning situation because you
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  Speaker 2: can imagine that it might not take much for one
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  Speaker 2: of these attacks to turn deadly in one of these
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  Speaker 2: countries bordering Ukraine.
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  Speaker 1: No question about that. Briar, thank you very much.