Russian Drone Strikes Ukrainian Train at Yahodyn Minutes After Boris Johnson’s Diplomatic Train Departs
A Russian drone struck a train at Yahodyn station near Ukraine’s border with Poland on Sunday, just minutes after a diplomatic train carrying former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and a group of senior European security officials had departed the same location, in an incident Ukrainian officials say was likely a deliberate targeting attempt.
According to Ukraine’s state railway company, Ukrzaliznytsia, the strike hit the engine of a train that had been standing at the station, located roughly two kilometres from the Polish border. No casualties were reported, as all passengers on the affected train had been evacuated approximately fifteen minutes before the drone struck, following an order issued amid what the railway operator described as constant threats of Russian strikes along the route. Ukrzaliznytsia said the diplomatic train carrying Johnson and the other officials had left Yahodyn earlier than originally scheduled due to a timetable change prompted by those ongoing security concerns, and had already crossed into Poland by the time the attack occurred.
Johnson had been travelling alongside a group of senior European national security officials, including the UK’s National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, returning from a conference held in Kyiv. Former US CIA Director David Petraeus, who had also attended the same conference, was travelling on a separate train that remained at Yahodyn station at the moment of the strike. Speaking to the New York Times afterward, Petraeus described the incident as terrifying, characterising it as an attempt by a brutal leader to spread terror among Ukrainian civilians.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces had struck “railway infrastructure” in western Ukraine, without directly addressing the presence of the diplomatic delegation. Ukrzaliznytsia, however, said it was quite likely that the drone’s actual target had been the diplomatic train itself, given the timing and location of the strike. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha condemned the attack, framing it as a direct extension of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s campaign of intimidation reaching toward the borders of the European Union and NATO.
Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, who had also attended the Kyiv conference and was travelling on a separate train at the time, told the BBC that passengers aboard his train had initially been instructed to prepare for evacuation before later being permitted to continue their journey without further incident. Russian drones were also reported to have targeted a fuel station in the same town of Yahodyn on the same day.
The incident adds to growing concern in Europe over the escalating reach and audacity of Russian drone strikes near the borders of NATO and EU member states, coming at a moment when Western officials have repeatedly warned that sustained pressure on Moscow will be necessary through the coming winter months as the war in Ukraine continues.
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