Russian drone strikes train near Ukraine-Poland border shortly after Boris Johnson and top European officials leave station
The strike occurred about 2 km from Polish territory. No casualties were reported, as passengers had been evacuated before the attack, Ukrainian authorities said
A Russian jet-propelled drone struck a train engine at Yahodyn station near Ukraine's border with Poland, Ukrainian authorities said, in an attack that came shortly after senior Western officials travelled along the same railway line.
The strike occurred about 2 km from Polish territory. No casualties were reported, as passengers had been evacuated before the attack, Ukrainian authorities said.
Ukraine's state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia ordered an evacuation 15 minutes before the strike, while a diplomatic train had departed earlier than planned because of ongoing security threats, says the BBC.
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Russian authorities said the target was standard railway infrastructure. Ukrainian railway officials said the diplomatic train may have been the intended target.
The incident occurred shortly after former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and senior European national security advisers, including the UK's Jonathan Powell, travelled along the same line on a separate train while returning from the Yalta European Strategy (YES) conference in Kyiv.
Former CIA chief David Petraeus was also aboard another train at Yahodyn station during the strike, while former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt said passengers on his train were ordered to prepare for evacuation before being cleared to continue to Dorohusk in Poland.
Johnson condemned the attack as a "random and senseless attack" on civilian railway infrastructure and urged Western allies to urgently provide Ukraine with essential air defence systems and interceptors.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the attack as "barbaric", saying Russian President Vladimir Putin's terror was "knocking directly on the doors of the EU and Nato". He also renewed calls for stricter sanctions on Moscow.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk convened an emergency meeting after the incident, saying Russian actions were escalating and moving increasingly close to Poland's border.
The strike is part of a broader pattern of Russian attacks on Ukrainian transport infrastructure, including railways, depots, petrol stations and border crossings.
With air travel in Ukraine suspended since Russia's 2022 invasion, the country's rail network has become its main mode of transportation.
Recent attacks have included a drone strike at a Ukraine-Moldova border crossing that killed two people, a strike in southern Ukraine that killed a female train conductor and an attack on a Kyiv depot that killed six railway workers.
European countries have also accused Russia of conducting a broader sabotage campaign across Europe, citing incidents including a drone incident at Germany's Leipzig airport and suspicious fires at defence facilities from Italy to Estonia.
