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Russia hits Ukrainian train shortly after Boris Johnson and top European officials leave station
Confirmed
In Short: A Russian drone struck a train near the Ukraine-Poland border, evacuating all passengers shortly after Boris Johnson and top European officials had passed through.
A Russian drone struck a train near the Ukraine-Poland border, according to reports. No casualties were reported, but all passengers were evacuated, Ukrainian authorities said.
Russia's defense ministry claimed it had struck 'railway infrastructure' in western Ukraine, while Ukraine's state railway company, Ukrzaliznytsia, suggested the target could have been the diplomatic train.
Former CIA chief David Petraeus, who was on board another train at the time, described the incident as 'terrifying.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the strikes 'barbaric' and urged allies to provide air defenses, while former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was on the train, said it was 'the kind of random and senseless attack Ukrainians are enduring every day.
What's confirmed
- A Russian drone struck a train near the Ukraine-Poland border, according to reports. No casualties were reported, but all passengers were evacuated, Ukrainian authorities said.
- Russia's defense ministry claimed it had struck 'railway infrastructure' in western Ukraine, while Ukraine's state railway company, Ukrzaliznytsia, suggested the target could have been the diplomatic train.
- Former CIA chief David Petraeus, who was on board another train at the time, described the incident as 'terrifying.
- Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the strikes 'barbaric' and urged allies to provide air defenses, while former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was on the train, said it was 'the kind of random and senseless attack Ukrainians are enduring every day.
What's still developing
- No casualties were reported after the strike at Yahodyn, which hit the train's engine.
- PM's top security adviser says Europe faces hard winter to keep pressure on Putin Russia's new jet-powered drones outpacing Ukraine's air defences with daily launches Professor Katarzyna Pisarska, chair of the Warsaw Security Forum, told the BBC she was in the same carriage as Johnson and Powell, and the attack had happened about 30 minutes after their train had crossed into the Polish border.
- In a statement, Ukraine's railway authority Ukrzaliznytsia said the diplomatic train "had left the station earlier than expected because of the timetable change... due to constant threats of Russian strikes".
- It also said an evacuation order for passengers on the hit train had been given "just 15 minutes" before the strike by a Russian jet-propelled drone.
- Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, who had also attended the conference in Kyiv, told the BBC passengers on board his train had been told to prepare for evacuation before subsequently being allowed to continue their journey.
- "On the train I was on we received order to prepare evacuation after it had stopped. But after a number of minutes we were informed that it was clear and we could proceed," he said.
- Johnson, seen here at a book fair in Lviv last week, was on the train alongside top European security officials Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the "barbaric strikes" at the Ukraine-Poland border in Yahodyn amounted to "[Russian President Vladimir] Putin's terror 'knocking' directly on the doors of the EU and Nato" and renewed calls for more sanctions on Moscow.
- Earlier this week, two people were killed when Russian drones hit a border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.