A Russian drone struck a Kyiv-to-Warsaw passenger train near the Polish border on Sunday but caused no casualties. Another train, which was nearby and carrying several world leaders, including former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt and former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, was evacuated after Ukraine learnt of the drone attack.
The leaders were travelling back towards Poland after attending a major security conference in Kyiv when the train stopped at around 5am amid a drone alert, according to multiple reports. They were evacuated following a warning after a nearby locomotive was hit by a Russian drone. Johnson and Bildt escaped unhurt.
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BBC reported that the drone hit the passenger train at the Poland border shortly after the train carrying Boris and co had left that point.
Bildt later revealed confirmed it was the train immediately behind theirs that was hit by the Russian drone.
“This wasn’t our train, but the one just minutes after us by the [Polish] border crossing. It was evacuated as the (Russian) drone approached and no one was hurt. Very good safety system,” Bildt wrote on X.
{{/usCountry}}“This wasn’t our train, but the one just minutes after us by the [Polish] border crossing. It was evacuated as the (Russian) drone approached and no one was hurt. Very good safety system,” Bildt wrote on X.
{{/usCountry}}The train was also carrying Günter Sautter, one of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s closest foreign and security policy advisers, as well as security advisers from Britain, France and Italy, German MPs, diplomats and academics, the Daily Mail reported.
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Boris condemns attack
Boris Johnson condemned Russia’s alleged attack, calling it a “random and senseless attack” and saying such strikes are part of what Ukrainians endure “every day”.
Johnson said Russia’s war has killed 1,700 staff members of Ukrainian Railways, known as Ukrzaliznytsia, and praised railway workers and passengers as “absolutely heroic”.
“When are we going to give them the air defences they need?” Johnson asked, urging Western nations to step up support for Ukraine.
He also called for Russian assets frozen in Europe and the UK to be transferred to Ukraine, saying, “Britain could show a lead.”
“The Ukrainians are going to win,” Johnson said, arguing that the war could end much faster if Western countries “get serious and give them what they need and deserve.”