Ukraine's railways have been heavily targeted by Russia's army throughout its invasion
Ukraine's railways have been heavily targeted by Russia's army throughout its invasion AFP

Russian strikes across eastern Ukraine killed six people, including a mechanic at a railway station, and wounded at least a dozen people, authorities said Tuesday.

"Russian terrorists inflicted a massive strike on the railway infrastructure of Lozova," the Ukrainian Railways company posted on Telegram.

Ukraine's railways have been heavily targeted by Russia's army throughout its invasion, launched in February 2022.

Moscow has escalated aerial attacks ahead of a Friday deadline by US President Donald Trump to make progress towards peace or face massive new sanctions.

The nighttime strikes on Lozova in the eastern Kharkiv region left a passenger train mangled and charred and damaged the station building, with a pile of rubble on the platform.

Two people were killed in Lozova, Kharkiv's Governor Oleg Synegubov said on Telegram.

Among them was "a duty mechanic of one of the units", Ukrainian Railways said, adding that several trains had been rerouted.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched more than 25 Iranian-designed Shahed drones at the city, striking civilian infrastructure.

"The railway was damaged, including a depot and a station," he said on social media, adding that 10 people were wounded in the attack.

Ukraine's air force said Russia fired 46 attack drones and one ballistic missile in the barrage, down from the several hundred that Moscow has launched in previous nighttime attacks.

A separate Russian strike on Ukraine's northeast Sumy region killed two people at an "agricultural enterprise" and wounded three employees, authorities said.

In the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, two more people died after "the Russian army hit a house with an FPV drone," said its governor, Ivan Fedorov.

In the Russian-occupied Lugansk region, four water utility workers were killed on duty in a Ukrainian drone attack on the city of Svatovo, Moscow-installed officials said.

Trump's deadline looms after three rounds of peace talks in Istanbul failed to make headway on a possible ceasefire, with the two sides remaining far apart.

Russia's army has escalated attacks and accelerated its advance on the ground to capture more Ukrainian territory.

US envoy Steve Witkoff will visit Russia this week, where he is expected to meet with President Vladimir Putin, ahead of the Friday sanctions deadline.