The suspect, a 23-year-old Kharkiv resident who recently attempted to cross into Belarus, was among the dead.

A man has detonated an explosive device at a railway station in northern Ukraine, killing himself and three women, the State Border Guard Service has said.

Twelve others were hurt on Friday at the station in Ovruch, close to the border with Belarus.

Among the dead were a border guard and two civilians, aged 29, 58 and 82, the service said in a statement.

The man who detonated the explosive device was a 23-year-old resident of Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine, who had recently been detained for trying to cross the border. He died while being treated in an ambulance after the blast.

The statement made no mention of any link with Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The internet portal Ukrainska Pravda quoted Ministry of Internal Affairs spokesperson Marjana Rewa as saying that the man detonated the device during an identity check on a train in the northwestern Zhytomyr region.

An image from the scene posted on Telegram by the Ukrainian border guard service showed rescuers helping casualties from the blast on the platform.

The background to the incident remains unclear, as well as the motives behind the 23-year-old’s actions.

Martial law has been in force for the past three and a half years, since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Men between the ages of 22 and 60 are not allowed to leave the country without special permission and can be drafted into the military.

It is unclear how many Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the war against Russia, as Kyiv does not disclose official figures. According to some estimates, more than 400,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed or wounded since the war began.