Ukraine Conflict Monitor
Update
Ukraine war situation update | 28 February – 6 March 2026
Russian strikes on Ukrainian trains and railway infrastructure throughout the week were higher than the monthly average for the past year.
Key stats
1,630 political violence events
4% decrease compared to the previous three weeks
135 incidents of violence targeting civilians
8% increase compared to the previous three weeks
At least 60 fatalities from civilian targeting
22% increase compared to the previous three weeks
Key events
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2 Mar.
Donetsk — Russian shelling kills two civilians and a police captain in Druzhkivka
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4 Mar.
Odesa — Russian drones strike a Panama-flagged vessel near the port of Chornomorsk, wounding three crew members
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6 Mar.
Kyiv — Russia and Ukraine each exchange 500 prisoners of war
Key trends
- Russian forces seized four villages in the Lyman area of the northern Donetsk region, a village near Malokaterynivka in the Zaporizhia region, and two villages near the international border in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions.
- Ukrainian forces continued making advances in the Dnipropetrovsk region and north of Huliaipole in the Zaporizhia region.
- Russian forces launched at least 38 long-range missile and drone attacks, nearly half of them in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
- Russian strikes killed at least 46 civilians in the Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Sumy, and Zaporizhia regions. Ukrainian drones and shelling reportedly killed 13 civilians in the Russian-controlled parts of the Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhia regions.
Spotlight: Russia intensifies attacks on railway infrastructure in Ukraine
During the first week of March, ACLED records deadly Russian strikes on a Ukrainian passenger train and station, respectively, as part of Russia’s increasing targeting of railway infrastructure. On 2 March, a Russian drone struck a passenger train in Apostolove in the Dnipropetrovsk region, killing one civilian and wounding at least 10 others. Two days later, on 4 March, a drone strike on a railway station in Zatoka in the Odesa region killed a railway worker and wounded three people, including two children. Overall, ACLED records 13 events involving Russian strikes on trains and railway infrastructure throughout the week, which is higher than the monthly average for the past year. According to the Ukrainian Railways, Russian attacks damaged 41 railway assets between 1 and 4 March, including 17 traincars,1 with further attacks occurring on 5 March.
The attacks mainly took place in the southern and eastern regions adjacent to the frontline. They may offer Russia a military advantage by disrupting communication lines with the areas on the frontline and complicating the transportation of military equipment and troops.2 Ukraine’s railway infrastructure has also been a frequent target of sabotage events. ACLED records at least 20 prevented and executed pro-Russian sabotage attacks targeting railway infrastructure across Ukraine over the past year, accounting for over a 10th of all recorded sabotage events. Despite Russia’s potential military goals, the March drone attacks frequently targeted civilian trains and endangered civilians, and the majority of recorded events resulted in civilian casualties. While civilian and military transport systems in Ukraine use the same rail network, the high civilian burden of these strikes highlights Russia’s lack of distinction when targeting railway infrastructure, a continuing feature of Russian strikes throughout the conflict. The strikes come little over a month after a Russian drone killed five civilians and one serviceman on a moving passenger train on 27 January near Yazykove in the Kharkiv region.
Explore the ACLED Conflict Exposure Calculator to assess the number of people affected by armed violence, disaggregated by locations, time period, and actors involved.
