Russians Kill Mother and Her two Toddlers; Strikes and Casualties Reported across Ukraine
I was planning to write my newest installment of The Torn Curtain 1991 by retelling Russia’s latest strikes on Ukrainian public transportation until I learned of this latest murder by Russian cutthroats.
A woman and two young children were killed in a Russian strike in the village of Hlevakha, in the Fastiv district of Kyiv Oblast, Gov. Tymur Tkachenko reported on September 19.
The children were a girl and a boy, according to Tkachenko. Three members of a Ukrainian family were erased by Russian cutthroats.
“There are no words to express the pain of this loss,” Tkachenko said after the attack. “My sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims. This is an irreparable tragedy."
According to local media, the victims were a 39-year-old woman and her 2-year-old son, along with a 3-year-old girl, Ukraine's National Police reported. It was not immediately clear if the young girl was also the woman's daughter.
Preliminary information indicates a Russian drone struck a house in Hlevakha, killing the three victims and injuring a third woman, police said. Homes and a vehicle were damagedin the attack. A fire broke out in one of the houses but was later extinguished, while emergency services continued working at the scene.
Air raid alerts in the region continued almost uninterrupted throughout the day as Russian forces repeatedly attacked the region with drones, local authorities said.
Elsewhere in the region, a mother and child were injured in the Vyshhorod district, north of Kyiv and hospitalized, Tkachenko said. A school and a bus were also damaged.
Russian attacks damaged at least nine civilian sites across four districts of Kyiv Oblast over the course of the day, including five warehouses, a production facility, a garage, vehicles, and an apartment building.
Earlier on September 19, authorities reported that another woman had been wounded in Fastiv district and taken to hospital following a separate Russian attack.
Russia has intensified drone attacks across Ukraine in recent weeks, repeatedly targeting residential areas and civilian infrastructure.
Russian list of what it regards as credible military targets now includes civilian buses and trains as its bombing raids across Ukraine demonstrate. Indeed, public transportation and transit infrastructure have increasingly become direct targets in the recent wave of attacks, intensifying the strain on civilian logistics.
As Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha noted, these incidents are not mere collateral damage, but a calculated attempt to paralyze civilian life and hunt down ordinary people relying on the last available modes of transit.
Key developments regarding buses, trains, and transit networks include:
Targeted Strikes on Passenger Buses: In the Nikopol district of the Dnipropetrovsk region, a Russian drone directly struck a passenger minibus, killing five people (four men and a woman) and injuring at least seven others. Officials and leaders have emphasized that these vehicles carry ordinary commuters and have no military value.
Attacks on Rail Infrastructure and Trains: The rail network has faced a systematic surge in strikes. A passenger train in the Mykolaiv region was targeted multiple times by drones, though passengers and crew (totaling nearly 170 people) were successfully evacuated beforehand. Additionally, an electric locomotive was hit in Kovel.
Broader Strains on Logistics: Ukrainian officials, including Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, have noted that hundreds of locomotives have been damaged or destroyed since the full-scale invasion began, with a significant portion of those hits occurring recently.
Because Ukraine’s airspace has remained closed, buses and trains represent absolute lifelines for civilian evacuation, commerce, and daily survival, making the attacks part of what officials describe as an effort to paralyze civil life.
With Ukraine's airspace remaining completely closed since the start of the full-scale invasion, buses and trains serve as the absolute backbone for domestic commerce, regional communication, and mass evacuations.
Escalating Infrastructure Toll: According to data from Ukraine's state rail operator, hundreds of locomotives, passenger cars, and railway stations have been damaged or destroyed, with the scale of attacks intensifying drastically.
Across Ukraine: A Russian attack damaged a high-rise residential building in Kyiv overnight on September 17.
At least 10 people were killed and 75 injured in Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day, according to Ukrainian authorities.
The attack comes as the US government adopted and President Trump signed sweeping legislation that would allow tariffs of up to 100-500% to be imposed on countries that purchase Russian oil and gas.
Russia also launched a large-scale overnight attack on Ukrainian cities, using ballistic and cruise missiles, Shahed-type one-way attack drones, and Oniks anti-ship missiles.
The main targets of the Russian attack were the Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Odesa oblasts, according to Ukraine’s Air Force. Ukrainian forces shot down or suppressed with electronic warfare 124 of 157 Russian drones of various types, as well as seven of 10 low-cost "Banderol" cruise missiles, the Air Force said.
Russian missile and drone strikes were recorded at 36 locations across Ukraine, while drone debris was reported at five additional locations, according to the Air Force.
In Kyiv, 20 people, including two children, were injured in a series of overnight Russian drone and missile attacks, Mayor Vitali Klitshchko said.
In Donetsk Oblast, two people were killed and five others injured in Russian attacks, according to Governor Vadym Filashkin.
In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, five people were killed and seven injured when a Russian drone struck a civilian commuter bus in the Nikopol area, according to local authorities.
In Kherson Oblast, one person was killed and 14 others injured in a series of Russian drone, missile and air strikes targeting the city of Kherson and surrounding settlements, local authorities said.
In Kirovohrad Oblast, Russian strikes hit the center of Kropyvnytskyi, injuring at least four people,
In Sumy Oblast, one man was killed in a Russian air strike, while 14 others, including two children, were injured in other Russian attacks, the local military administration said.
In Odesa Oblast, one person was killed in a Russian strike on Sept. 16, while six others were injured in overnight attacks, Governor Serhii Lysak said.
In Zaporizhzhia Oblast, five people were injured in Russian attacks on the city of Zaporizhzhia and surrounding areas, according to local authorities.
The free world cannot continue to passively support Ukraine and its people, watching sympathetically what’s happening in Ukraine.
Right now, only two things will keep Russians at bay and Ukrainians and their country alive: Patriot missiles and more sanctions.
