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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is having a bombed-out passenger train car roll into Kyiv Tuesday as a symbol of the war’s deadly toll — as he greets world leaders on the grim four-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.

Five civilians were killed and 18 wounded in a Russian drone attack near Kharkiv last month that blew the roof of the same passenger train and set it ablaze — leaving it charred in pieces in what was called a blatant act of terrorism. 

“In any country, a drone strike on a civilian train would be considered in exactly the same way — purely as terrorism,” Ukrainian President Zelensky said after the Jan. 27 strike. “There is not and cannot be any military purpose in this.”


  The Flamingo missile was launched Friday from Ukraine and struck a weapons plant deep inside Russia. X / FirePoiint LLC The Flamingo missile was launched Friday from Ukraine and struck a weapons plant deep inside Russia. X / FirePoiint LLC

The train car is being held together by a metal wire.

Zelensky vowed this weekend that, despite the odds, Kyiv was “definitely” not losing the war, as his country launched devastating cruise missiles that struck one of Russia’s main weapons factories.

The attack on the Kremlin-owned Votkinsk machine building plant — a manufacturer of strongman Vladimir Putin‘s ballistic missiles that sits 860 miles deep inside Russia — marked the deepest Ukrainian strike into Russian territory using domestically made weapons.

Kyiv fired Flamingo missiles, which can reportedly travel nearly 1,900 miles — even further than the coveted US Tomahawk missiles Ukraine had desperately tried to purchase from the Trump administration.

Black smoke was seen rising from the plant, as Russian locals reportedly heard at least three blasts during the night into Saturday, and windows shattered in nearby buildings.

Zelensky, meanwhile, announced from Kyiv’s presidential palace that his forces had liberated more than 100 miles of Russian-occupied territory in a counteroffensive in the south of Ukraine.


  The Votkinsk machine building plant expanded its capacities during the war against Ukraine. ASSOCIATED PRESS The Votkinsk machine building plant expanded its capacities during the war against Ukraine. ASSOCIATED PRESS

“You can’t say that we’re losing the war,” Zelensky told the AFP in an exclusive interview Friday. “Honestly, we’re definitely not losing it, definitely.”

“The question is whether we will win,” he added. “That is the question — but it’s a very costly question.”

Trilateral talks between the warring sides and the US in Geneva earlier this week failed to make any progress.

Territorial concessions remain the sticking point, with Putin refusing to budge on his demand to control the entirety of the frontline mineral-rich Donbas region — a nonstarter for Kyiv, which says agreeing on a cease-fire based on the existing military positions is the more pragmatic option.

“Both the Americans and the Russians say that if you want the war to end tomorrow, get out of Donbas,” Zelensky said.


  The Ukrainian-made Flamingo missile reportedly has a range of close to 1,900 miles – even longer than the US Tomahawk. X / FirePoiint LLC The Ukrainian-made Flamingo missile reportedly has a range of close to 1,900 miles – even longer than the US Tomahawk. X / FirePoiint LLC

Moscow has seized all of Luhansk and 80% of Donetsk – the two eastern Ukraine regions that make up the Donbas.

The next round of trilateral talks has not been set, but Zelensky said he hopes for more negotiations before the end of the month.

“It is already our compromise that we are speaking with the aggressor about compromises,” he wrote on X. “They took almost 20% of our territory. And we are ready to speak about peace at this moment, on the basis of ‘Stay where we stay.’ This is a big compromise.

“What does Russia offer us as a compromise? They said, ‘We are ready not to occupy your other regions.’ But it is terrorism. Even that language, it is terrorism. ‘I’m ready not to kill you – give us everything.'”

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