Russian drones hit a stationary Ukrainian train near the Poland‑Ukraine border minutes after former British prime minister Boris Johnson and other senior officials walked away from the nearby station.
Ukrainian Railways said the unmanned aircraft struck the train’s locomotive, leaving the carriage intact and causing no reported casualties.
"I don't know what warped logic drove Putin to blow up a stationary Ukrainian locomotive on the Polish border this morning," Johnson said.
Johnson was in Warsaw for a high‑profile visit aimed at bolstering NATO support for Kyiv. He was accompanied by former US CIA director David Petraeus and a former Swedish prime minister, all of whom had crossed into Poland earlier that morning.
Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha described the attack as “Putin’s terror knocking directly on the doors of the EU and Nato”, and both Kyiv and Warsaw condemned what they called an escalation of the war.
Polish defence officials warned that the strike threatened the safety of border infrastructure and reiterated Poland’s commitment to protect the frontier, calling the incident “unacceptable” and demanding a swift response from Moscow.
The timing has heightened concerns that the strike was intended to send a message to the visiting delegation. Johnson’s trip, the first by a former UK leader since the war began, sought to secure further military aid and to reaffirm the UK’s role in NATO’s eastern flank.
Russia has repeatedly used drone attacks to cripple Ukraine’s rail network, a strategy that disrupts supply lines and civilian evacuations. Similar strikes have hit rail hubs in Kharkiv and Lviv over the past year, prompting international calls for stricter air‑defence measures along the front line.
Analysts say the incident could complicate diplomatic momentum ahead of a NATO foreign‑ministerial meeting in Brussels later this week, where allies are expected to discuss additional support for Kyiv and possible sanctions on Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is slated to meet NATO leaders in Brussels on Thursday, a gathering that will now carry added urgency as allies weigh how to respond to the border strike without widening the conflict.
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