A Russian drone targeted a railroad line on the border between Ukraine and Poland, on which former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other European officials were traveling.
The former prime minister was returning from a security conference in Kyiv when, at 5 a.m. on Sunday, his security detail told him to prepare to evacuate the train.
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The warning was issued after another passenger train collided with the train behind Boris Johnson’s in Volyn, just over a mile from the Polish border, according to the British Telegraph.
Shortly afterward, it was confirmed that no other drones had been detected, and Johnson’s train was allowed to continue its journey.
BIG: Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Merz’s top security adviser, and security advisers from the UK, France, and Italy were all on a chartered night train from Kyiv when a Russian drone struck the locomotive of a passenger train on the same route near the Polish border.
Their train… pic.twitter.com/PtJRqVAvPr
Advertisement— Clash Report (@clashreport) September 13, 2026
Boris Johnson was not injured, according to reports in The Telegraph. Carl Bildt, the former prime minister of Sweden, who was also on the private train along with other European diplomats, said they were told that the train directly behind them had been struck by a Russian drone.
“It wasn’t our train (that was hit), but the one that was a few minutes behind us, near the (Polish) border crossing,” Bildt said. “It was evacuated as the (Russian) drone approached, and no one was injured.”
Ukrainian authorities stated that the train was carrying 206 people, who were seen running in panic after the attack. They confirmed that there were no casualties.
Footage circulating on social media appears to show freight cars on fire at the crossing, while Ukrainian media reported that a gas station was also hit. There were no immediate reports of casualties, and the Polish military confirmed the attack.
The attack took place two kilometers from the Polish border, according to Ukrainian railway officials, a fact that raises concerns about Russian strikes coming ever closer to NATO territory.
Boris Johnson was in Ukraine along with advisers from other European countries for the 2026 annual meeting of the Yalta European Strategy, a security conference where Western officials held discussions with Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government regarding potential peace negotiations with Russia.
Among the participants was Gunter Sauter, one of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s closest advisers, who was also on the train following the security conference, which took place in a hotel shelter in Kyiv.
Robin Wagener, a member of the Green Party in the German parliament, who was also on the train, spoke about the shock he experienced following the attacks.
“These drone attacks constitute indiscriminate terrorism against Ukrainian civilians and a dangerous escalation in Putin’s war,” Wagner told Der Spiegel.
Alarm at NATO
The attack was one of two Russian strikes near the Polish border overnight, in which a truck was hit just 800 meters from the Dorohusk-Yahodin border crossing, one of the most important hubs connecting Poland to the European Union.
Polish aircraft took off and an emergency alert was issued following the raid on NATO’s doorstep.
“Due to the activity of unmanned aerial vehicles and jet aircraft of the Russian Federation carrying out attacks on Ukrainian territory, military air operations have begun in Polish airspace,” the Polish Armed Forces stated on social media.
Polish border guards said the crossing point was temporarily shut down following the attack but has since resumed operations.
Source: cnn.gr
