Russian Drone Strikes Ukrainian Train Near Polish Border After Boris Johnson And European Officials Pass Through

A Russian drone struck a Ukrainian passenger train near the Poland border, damaging its engine in an attack that occurred shortly after former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and senior European security officials had traveled through the same railway area.

No casualties were reported at Yahodyn, where all passengers on the targeted train had been evacuated before the strike, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Ukraine’s state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia said the train’s evacuation order had been issued “just 15 minutes” before it was hit by a Russian jet-propelled drone.

The railway operator also said the train “had left the station earlier than expected because of the timetable change… due to constant threats of Russian strikes”.

Russia said it had targeted “railway infrastructure” in western Ukraine. However, Ukrzaliznytsia stated that “quite possibly, the target of this drone could have been the diplomatic train”.

The attack took place approximately 2 kilometers from the Polish border, according to Ukrainian and Polish authorities.

Johnson and other European national security advisers, including the UK’s Jonathan Powell, had traveled along the same railway line on a different train while returning from a conference in Kyiv.

Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, who had also attended the conference, described the security measures taken aboard his train.

“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 told the BBC.

Bildt’s train later arrived safely at Poland’s border station in Dorohusk. Some reports have suggested that he was traveling on the same train as Johnson, although the former British prime minister has not confirmed his travel details.

Johnson wrote 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 incident as “the kind of random and senseless attack Ukrainians are enduring every day – even on civilian railways” and urged allies to provide Ukraine with “the air defences they need”.

The railway strike occurred amid continuing Russian attacks on Ukraine’s transportation infrastructure, which remains essential for civilian travel and the movement of goods throughout the country.