Trending 
A Russian drone has struck a train near Ukraine’s border with Poland, shortly after former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and top European security officials passed through the area.
Ukraine’s rail operator said on Sunday that the drone hit the train’s engine at Yahodyn, about 2km from the Polish border, but no casualties were reported.
Ukrainian authorities said all passengers on the affected train had been evacuated.
Johnson and other European national security advisers, including the UK’s Jonathan Powell, had travelled along the same railway line on another train after attending the Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv.
Russia said it had targeted “railway infrastructure” in western Ukraine.
However, Ukraine’s state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia said it was “quite possibly” a diplomatic train that the drone was targeting.
The railway company said the diplomatic train had left the station earlier than expected because of a timetable change linked to “constant threats of Russian strikes”.
It added that passengers on the train hit by the drone received an evacuation order just 15 minutes before the strike.
The railway authority also said former CIA chief David Petraeus was aboard another train at Yahodyn station when the attack occurred.
Both Ukrainian and Polish authorities confirmed 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 allowed to 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 told the BBC.
The train later arrived safely at Poland’s border station in Dorohusk.
Some reports suggested Bildt was travelling on the same train as Johnson, but the former British prime minister has not confirmed details of his journey.
Johnson wrote on X that he did not know what “warped logic” led Russian President Vladimir Putin to target a stationary Ukrainian locomotive near the Polish border.
He described the strike as a “random and senseless attack” similar to those Ukrainians face daily and urged allies to provide Ukraine with more air defence systems.
Ukraine has repeatedly asked its allies, particularly the United States, for additional interceptors to defend against Russian missile and drone attacks.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the strikes at Yahodyn as “barbaric” and said they showed Putin’s terror was “knocking” on the doors of the European Union and NATO.
“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,” Tusk said.
Johnson and other European security officials were returning from the annual Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv, which brings together political, business, security and media figures.
The latest incident comes amid increased Russian attacks on Ukraine’s railway network, border crossings, petrol stations and other infrastructure.
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 railway workers 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 as “terrorism”, after five people were killed.
Russia’s repeated attacks have caused significant damage to Ukraine’s railway network, which remains a major transport lifeline after air travel was suspended following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
European countries have also accused Russia of involvement in suspicious incidents on their territory.
Last week, Germany blamed Russia for a drone incident at Leipzig Airport, a claim Moscow dismissed as “absurd”.
Several suspicious fires have also been reported at defence facilities from Italy to Estonia, with some affected countries accusing Russia of involvement.
