President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the shelling of the station in his evening address on December 26. The incident was also reported in the Telegram channel of Ukrzaliznytsia, the Ukrainian Railway company.
"A hard day. There has just been a report on the shelling of Kherson. Russian attack on the railway station. An evacuation train. All services are now on the spot. The number of dead and injured is currently being established. There were many civilians there. All updates will be provided by the relevant services," Zelenskyy said.
"As a result of the shelling of Kherson, the station and trains of Ukrzaliznytsia were damaged. We know about several wounded employees. Passengers are in the shelter," the Ukrzaliznytsia Telegram channel wrote.
"More than 100 passengers from the Kherson railway station, which was hit by enemy shelling yesterday, successfully arrived in Kyiv at 7:20 a.m.," Ukrzaliznytsia reported.
At 10:17 p.m., Ukrzaliznytsia railway reported on its Telegram channel that passengers of the Kherson train had safely reached Mykolaiv by bus.
"The train will leave for Kyiv according to the dispatch schedule. Tomorrow, trains from Kramatorsk, Lviv and Kyiv to Kherson will be pre-routed to Mykolaiv. We are currently assessing the damage to the station and cars and monitoring the condition of our injured employees. Please follow the official information on Ukrzaliznytsia's channels," the statement reads.
The Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Ihor Klymenko said that a police officer who helped evacuate people was killed in the shelling.
"Kherson. Evening. About 140 civilians were waiting for an evacuation train at the railway station. At that time, Russia started a massive shelling of the city. Police officers who were on duty at the station immediately began evacuating people. Thanks to the efficient actions of the police, everyone was brought to safety. Two civilians who received shrapnel wounds are being treated. Unfortunately, a police lieutenant from Kirovohrad region was killed in the shelling. He was on duty in Kherson as part of a combined unit. He was fatally wounded while evacuating people," Klymenko wrote.
According to him, two more police officers were hospitalized with shrapnel wounds.
Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration, posted a video on his Telegram channel that was shot in the first minutes after the shelling of the station.
Caution, sensitive content!
"The plan is as follows: we are waiting for the situation around the station to stabilize, transferring people to buses from the station square to Mykolaiv (we thank the Kherson military administration for their prompt assistance), and preparing reserve cars to transport more than 100 passengers to safety. The situation is under control, and the railroad is ready to continue moving," Ukrzaliznytsia added.
Earlier, Prokudin reported on his Telegram channel that the Russian army had been attacking the city for more than two hours in a row using various weapons. He urged local residents not to go outside and stay in safe places.