At least 13 train passengers have been killed and ten injured in central Ukraine after a Russian drone struck a platform.

The state Ukrainian Railways operator said a jet-powered Russian drone had hit the Dnipro train station.

'The strike hit one of the platforms, where train No866 Dnipro-Zaporizhzhia was at the time,' it said on Telegram.

In a social media post, president Volodymyr Zelensky said: 'The Russians attacked the platform where a regular commuter train and a regular passenger train were standing.

'Unfortunately, as of now, 13 people have been confirmed dead.'

An elevated threat level had been announced, according to the rail company's chief, Oleksandr Pertsovsky.

'But unfortunately there were still a large number of people on the platform,' he said on Facebook.

Mr Zelensky called for the US and Europe to take action following the horrific attack.

'Fair and decisive actions by America and Europe are needed against Russian escalation,' he wrote on X. 

Russia has fired drones on trains across Ukraine since the first days of its 2022 invasion - destroying hundreds of trains and killing several railway workers.

In September alone, passengers were evacuated from more than 5,800 Ukrainian train services due to the threat of Russian drone strikes, the national railway operator told AFP.

The country's vast train network is a vital form of transport in the country, where journeys between east and west can take 24 hours.

It comes as Russia's Defence Ministry said on Thursday that air defences had downed 1,214 Ukrainian drones overnight in one of the largest drone attacks launched by Kyiv. 

Around half of the drones were heading to the Russian capital, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

Ukraine said Russia fired 112 drones at seven locations across the country.

It also comes as humanitarian aid is poised to roll into the stricken city of Oleshky on Friday, as a localised ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine stretched into a third day and military units cleared away landmines.

Moscow and Kyiv have observed the truce in and around the devastated southern Ukrainian city since Tuesday, despite remaining locked in war since Russia's all-out invasion more than four-and-a-half years ago. 

Previous efforts to secure ceasefires either never worked out or the truces quickly fell apart.

The planned six-day ceasefire around Russian-occupied Oleshky has also brought a rare and welcome stillness for civilians in the nearby city of Kherson, which is held by Ukraine and has also been wracked by the war.

Moscow and Kyiv are keen to curry favour with Washington ahead of possible three-way talks next month between Russia, Ukraine and the United States.

American military support is vital for Ukraine, but President Donald Trump recently indicated that he is disengaging with Kyiv as he waived sanctions on Russia and publicly chided Mr Zelensky.

Tankers carrying Russian diesel are sailing to the US, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will travel to America for a G20 ministerial meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, starting Friday, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova.

European leaders, on the other hand, have been trying to diplomatically isolate President Vladimir Putin over Moscow's invasion and what they call a campaign of sabotage across the continent.

Ukraine earlier this month reported sudden and unexpected limits on Starshield, the military-grade version of the Starlink satellite internet service owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX that is the backbone of Ukraine's drone operations and communications.

Putin said Russia has been in contact with the American tech titan to co-ordinate their orbiting activities because it is building its own equivalent of Starlink.

'Elon Musk is a genius. Truly, a real genius,' Putin said late on Wednesday.

'We and our American partners value this relationship, and despite all the political issues, we continue to work closely together,' he added.