KYIV/MOSCOW: A Russian drone hit a passenger train on Ukraine’s border with Nato member Poland on Sunday, shortly after former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other European diplomats had used the same line.
The train, on a route frequently used by foreign delegations returning from Kyiv, was attacked just 2-kms from the Polish border, Ukraine’s railway operator said.
No casualties were reported.
“This wasn’t our train, but the one just minutes after us by the border crossing. It was evacuated as the drone approached and no one was hurt,” Carl Bildt, former Sweden’s Prime Minister said on X. He and other politicians were returning to Europe by train after attending a conference in Kyiv.
“It is entirely possible that the Russian drone’s intended target was the diplomatic train, which departed the station earlier than scheduled after train timetables were adjusted in real time because of the constant threat of Russian strikes,” Ukraine’s railway operator, Ukrzaliznytsia, said on Telegram.
Boris Johnson, who was also on the train that left the station shortly before the strike, condemned the attack as “random and senseless” in a post on Instagram.
With the front line largely static, both Moscow and Kyiv have intensified long-distance strikes in recent weeks to try to shift momentum in the war.
Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski described Russia’s increasing attacks on Nato’s doorstep as “an escalation.”
