Russia has struck a train near the Ukraine-Poland border with a drone shortly after former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and top European security officials had passed through the area.
No casualties were reported after the strike at Yahodyn, which hit the train's engine. Ukrainian authorities stated that all passengers had been evacuated.
Johnson and other European national security advisers, including the UK's Jonathan Powell, had traveled on the same rail line on a different train while returning from a conference in Kyiv.
Russia's defence ministry claimed it had targeted "railway infrastructure" in western Ukraine. However, Ukraine's state railway company, Ukrzaliznytsia, suggested that the drone's intended target "could have been the diplomatic train".
Professor Katarzyna Pisarska, chair of the Warsaw Security Forum, who was in the same carriage as Johnson and Powell, informed the BBC that the attack occurred approximately 30 minutes after their train had crossed into Poland.
Ukrzaliznytsia issued a statement indicating that the diplomatic train "had left the station earlier than expected due to a timetable change... owing to constant threats of Russian strikes." The authority also reported that an evacuation order for passengers on the struck train had been issued "just 15 minutes" before the attack by a Russian jet-propelled drone.
Former CIA chief David Petraeus, who was on another train at Yahodyn station at the time of the strike, described the incident as "terrifying." In an interview with the New York Times, Petraeus stated, "This is the act of a truly barbaric leader trying to terrorise Ukrainian civilians."
Both Ukrainian and Polish authorities confirmed that the Russian drone had struck 2km (1.2 miles) from the Polish border.
Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, who also attended the Kyiv conference, told the BBC that passengers on his train were initially instructed to prepare for evacuation but were later allowed to continue their journey. "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," he said. His train subsequently arrived safely at Poland's border station in Dorohusk.
Boris Johnson commented 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 characterized it as "the kind of random and senseless attack Ukrainians are enduring every day - even on civilian railways" and urged Kyiv's allies to urgently provide Ukrainians "the air defences they need."
Ukraine has repeatedly appealed to its allies, particularly the US, for more interceptors to defend against daily Russian attacks, which increasingly involve fast-moving ballistic missiles and jet-propelled drones.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the "barbaric strikes" at the Ukraine-Poland border in Yahodyn as "Putin's terror 'knocking' directly on the doors of the EU and Nato" and reiterated calls for further 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," he stated.
In Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk convened an emergency meeting to discuss the latest developments. "The escalation of the actions from the Russian side is becoming a reality, and they are getting closer and closer to our border."
The EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas accused Russia of attempting to intimidate Western countries with the attack. "I think we should act the opposite. We should show that we are there for Ukraine and we are not scared," she told reporters in Finland.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on Monday: "Our military has been conducting operations across the entire territory of Ukraine and will continue to do so."
Johnson and the other European security advisers were returning from the Yalta European Strategy (YES) conference in Kyiv.
Ukraine reported that strikes continued overnight, with its air force intercepting 85 out of 108 Russian drones launched. Police in Chernihiv confirmed that three people died after a warehouse belonging to an agricultural business was hit in Pryluky.
Russia's defence ministry also claimed to have destroyed nearly 400 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions overnight.
Recent Russian actions suggest an escalation of its war against Ukraine, with a focus on targeting trains, railway depots, petrol stations, and border crossings. Earlier this week, two people were killed when Russian drones struck a border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. A female conductor also died in a Russian drone attack on a passenger train in southern Ukraine, and six Ukrzaliznytsia employees were killed after a depot was struck in Kyiv at the beginning of the month. In January, Zelensky condemned a Russian strike on a crowded passenger train in the Kharkiv region that resulted in five deaths as "terrorism."
The Russian attacks have significantly impacted Ukraine's extensive train network, which serves as the primary mode of transportation for millions of Ukrainians, especially since air travel has been suspended since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
European countries have also attributed suspicious incidents on their territory to Russia. Last week, Germany alleged that Russia was responsible for a drone attack at Leipzig's airport in August, a claim Moscow denied as "absurd." Additionally, several suspicious fires have occurred at defense facilities across Europe, from Italy to Estonia, with some affected nations pointing fingers at Russia.
Russian authorities, in turn, have accused Ukraine of targeting trains and buses in recent months. Last year, Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) announced it had targeted a railway bridge in Crimea after an operation lasting "several months." The Crimea bridge, also known as the Kerch Bridge, was constructed by Russia after its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
