A Russian drone has struck a Ukrainian train near the border with Poland, shortly after former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and senior European security officials travelled along the same railway line.
No casualties were reported after the drone hit the train’s engine at Yahodyn, about 2km (1.2 miles) from the Polish border. Ukrainian authorities said all passengers had been evacuated.
Johnson and other European national security advisers, including the UK’s Jonathan Powell, had travelled along the same railway line on a separate train while returning from a security conference in Kyiv.
Russia said it had targeted “railway infrastructure” in western Ukraine. Ukraine’s state railway company, Ukrzaliznytsia, said the diplomatic train may have been the intended target. “Quite possibly, the target of this drone could have been the diplomatic train,” the company said.
Former CIA director David Petraeus, who was on another train at Yahodyn station when the strike happened, described the incident as “terrifying.”
“This is the act of a truly barbaric leader trying to terrorise Ukrainian civilians,” Petraeus told the New York Times.
Ukrzaliznytsia said the diplomatic train had departed earlier than expected after its timetable was changed because of the continuing threat of Russian strikes.
The company also said passengers on the train that was hit were ordered to evacuate just 15 minutes before the attack by a Russian jet-propelled drone.
Both Ukrainian and Polish authorities said the drone struck about 2km from the Polish border.
Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, who also attended the Kyiv conference, said passengers on his train were ordered to prepare for evacuation before being told they could continue. “On the train I was on we received order to prepare evacuation after it had stopped. But after a number of minutes we were informed that it was clear and we could proceed,” Bildt said.
His train later arrived safely at the Polish border station in Dorohusk.
Some reports suggested Bildt was travelling on the same train as Johnson, although Johnson has not confirmed details of his journey.
Johnson criticised the Russian strike in a post on X. “I don’t know what warped logic drove Putin to blow up a stationary Ukrainian locomotive on the Polish border this morning.”
He described the attack as “the kind of random and senseless attack Ukrainians are enduring every day” and urged Ukraine’s allies to provide more air defence systems.
Ukraine has repeatedly asked its allies, particularly the United States, for additional interceptors to defend against Russian attacks involving ballistic missiles and jet-propelled drones.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the strikes at Yahodyn showed that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions were reaching the borders of the European Union and NATO.
He called the attacks “barbaric strikes” and renewed calls for tougher sanctions against Moscow. “Putin needs to understand that his barbarism will be met with decisive action that increases the cost of war for him to an unacceptable level. This is the only way to stop him,” Sybiha said.
In Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk held an emergency meeting over the incident. “The escalation of the actions from the Russian side is becoming a reality, and they are getting closer and closer to our border.”
Johnson and the other European security advisers had been returning from the Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv, an annual gathering of political, business, security and media figures.
The strike comes amid a series of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s railway infrastructure, border crossings and other civilian facilities.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said two people were killed when Russian drones struck a border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova.
A female conductor was also killed in a Russian drone attack on a passenger train in southern Ukraine, while six Ukrzaliznytsia employees died after a depot was struck in Kyiv earlier this month.
In January, Zelensky condemned a Russian strike on a crowded passenger train in northeastern Kharkiv region that killed five people.
Russian attacks have caused significant damage to Ukraine’s railway network, which remains the main means of transport for millions of Ukrainians because air travel has been suspended since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
European governments have also accused Russia of involvement in suspicious incidents on their territory.
Germany last week blamed Russia for a drone attack at Leipzig airport in August, a claim Moscow rejected as “absurd.”
Several European countries have also reported suspicious fires at defence-related facilities, with some governments blaming Russia.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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