From BBC News · · 1m 50s
Russian drone hits train minutes after Johnson passes
A jet-propelled drone struck a Ukrainian train 2km from the Polish border, just after a carriage full of European security chiefs went through.
In brief
A jet-propelled drone struck a Ukrainian train 2km from the Polish border, just after a carriage full of European security chiefs went through. Russia is now hitting Ukraine's railways, the country's lifeline since air travel stopped, right up against the EU and Nato frontier. Originally reported by BBC News.
Quick answers
- Was the target diplomatic?
- Russia called it a hit on railway infrastructure. Ukraine's rail company suggested otherwise, and said the diplomatic train had left early because of the constant strike threat.
- What is the key takeaway from Russian drone hits train minutes after Johnson passes?
- Russia is now hitting Ukraine's railways, the country's lifeline since air travel stopped, right up against the EU and Nato frontier.
A strike at Yahodyn
A Russian drone hit a train's engine at Yahodyn, near the Ukraine-Poland border. Passengers had already been evacuated and nobody was hurt.
Minutes after the diplomats
Boris Johnson and European national security advisers, including the UK's Jonathan Powell, had travelled the same line on a different train back from a Kyiv conference.
Was the target diplomatic?
Russia called it a hit on railway infrastructure. Ukraine's rail company suggested otherwise, and said the diplomatic train had left early because of the constant strike threat.
“Quite possibly, the target of this drone could have been the diplomatic train”
Fifteen minutes' warning
The evacuation order for the train that was hit came just 15 minutes before the jet-propelled drone arrived. Former CIA chief David Petraeus was on another train at the station.
Two kilometres from Nato
Both Ukrainian and Polish authorities put the impact 2km from the Polish border. Carl Bildt's train was told to prepare for evacuation, then cleared to continue to Dorohusk.
Johnson's response
He called it a random and senseless attack of the kind Ukrainians face daily, blamed Putin for the deaths of 1,700 rail staff, and pressed allies on air defences.
“I don't know what warped logic drove Putin to blow up a stationary Ukrainian locomotive”
Knocking on Nato's door
Ukraine's foreign minister called for more sanctions. Poland's Donald Tusk held an emergency meeting, saying Russian escalation is getting closer to the border.
“Putin's terror 'knocking' directly on the doors of the EU and Nato”
Railways as a target
Drones killed two at a Moldova crossing this week and a conductor on a southern train. Six depot workers died in Kyiv this month. Trains are the main transport since flights stopped in 2022.
At a glance
Russia is now hitting Ukraine's railways, the country's lifeline since air travel stopped, right up against the EU and Nato frontier.
