A Russian drone strike hit a passenger train near Ukraine’s border with Poland on Monday, just after former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and senior European officials had passed through the same area, escalating fears over Russia’s expanding attacks.
The strike hit the train’s engine near Yahodyn, about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Polish border, according to Ukrainian and Polish authorities. No casualties were reported, and all passengers were evacuated.
Johnson and other European security officials, including the United Kingdom’s national security adviser Jonathan Powell, had traveled on a separate train along the same railway line after attending the Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv.
Ukraine’s state railway company, Ukrzaliznytsia, said the diplomatic train carrying Johnson and other officials had left the station earlier than expected because of a timetable change prompted by continued threats of Russian strikes.
The company said an evacuation order for passengers on the targeted train was issued about 15 minutes before the strike by a Russian jet-propelled drone.
Russia said it had targeted railway infrastructure in western Ukraine. However, Ukrzaliznytsia said it was “quite possibly” that the diplomatic train had been the intended target.
Former CIA Director David Petraeus, who was at Yahodyn station on another train when the strike occurred, described the incident as “terrifying.” He told The New York Times that the attack was aimed at terrorizing Ukrainian civilians.
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 cleared to continue their journey. The train later arrived safely at Poland’s border station in Dorohusk.
Johnson condemned the strike, questioning why Russian President Vladimir Putin would target a stationary Ukrainian locomotive near the Polish border. He described the attack as part of the “random and senseless” violence Ukrainians face and called on Kyiv’s allies to provide additional air defenses.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the strikes near Yahodyn showed that the threat posed by Russia was moving closer to the European Union and NATO. He called for stronger sanctions against Moscow.
In Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk convened an emergency meeting and warned that Russia’s escalating actions were moving increasingly close to the country’s border.
The incident comes as Russia continues to target Ukraine’s rail network and other critical infrastructure. Ukrainian officials say railway facilities, border crossings and passenger trains have increasingly come under attack.
Ukraine relies heavily on its railway network for civilian transportation because commercial air travel has remained suspended since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
