A race to the border

Boris Johnson's private train was forced to speed up after an incoming drone was detected hundreds of kilometres away. It crossed into Poland at 7.42am.

The train behind his

Just over an hour later, another locomotive on the Kyiv to Warsaw route was ordered to evacuate urgently ahead of a strike.

Hit at 9.28am

A Russian drone struck a stationary train at Yahodyn station on the Polish border. Everyone on board had already got off. Nobody was hurt.

Two kilometres from Poland

The strike landed roughly 2km from the border, according to Ukrainian railway officials. More than 200 people had been on that train before the evacuation.

Johnson was already gone

By the time the drone hit, the former prime minister was on his way to Warsaw Airport. Photos of the aftermath were shared with the Daily Mail that afternoon.

Warped logic

Johnson posted on X that he could not understand what drove Putin to blow up a stationary locomotive on the Polish border.

“I don't know what warped logic drove Putin to blow up a stationary locomotive on the Polish border this morning.”

Random and senseless

He framed the strike as ordinary rather than exceptional. This is what Ukrainians absorb daily, including on civilian railways.

“This is the kind of random and senseless attack Ukrainians are enduring every day.”

1,700 rail workers dead

Johnson said Putin is responsible for the deaths of 1,700 staff at Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukrainian Railways. He called them and their passengers heroic.

Two asks for the West

Johnson demanded air defences for Ukraine's rail network and the release of frozen Russian assets.

“When are we going to give them the air defences they need? Why won't we unfreeze Putin's cash and give it to Ukraine?”

€140 billion sitting still

He pointed to more than €140 billion in a Belgian bank account and about £10 billion in London, and said Britain could move first.

“There is more than €140 billion in a Belgian bank account - and about £10 billion in London.”

Carl Bildt was aboard

The former Swedish prime minister, on the same train, said passengers got an evacuation warning. It is unclear whether anyone actually left before the train reached Poland.

“This wasn't our train, but the one just minutes after us by the border crossing.”

A carriage full of advisers

Also aboard: Günter Sautter, a close security adviser to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, plus advisers from Britain, France and Italy, German MPs, diplomats and academics.

Why they were in Kyiv

The group had attended the 2026 annual meeting of the Yalta European Strategy, a security conference in the capital.

Talking peace terms

At the conference, Western officials discussed possible peace negotiations with Russia with Zelensky's government.

The border crossing burned

Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said a drone also hit the Yahodyn-Dorohusk crossing, one of Ukraine's most important links to the EU.

Trucks and a petrol station

Footage on social media appeared to show trucks on fire at the crossing. Ukrainian media reported a petrol station was hit too. The Polish military confirmed the attack.

Rail is the target

Ukrainian Railways accuses Moscow of systematic attacks on the network. Its monitoring centre and staff are on high alert, warning of evacuations, delays and diversions.

Blind terror

Green Party Bundestag member Robin Wagener, also on the train, called the strikes a dangerous escalation and said they were meant as a warning to Ukraine's backers.

“These drone attacks are blind terror against Ukrainian civilians and a dangerous escalation in Putin's war.”

Playing with fire

Wagener said Russia is growing more unscrupulous right on the edge of the EU and NATO, and that the terror has to be stopped.

“Russia is playing with fire right on the border of the European Union and Nato.”

Warsaw on alert

The strike came during a wider Russian wave of hundreds of drones overnight. Polish authorities activated defensive measures in response.