Russian drone strikes train behind Boris Johnson’s

Former prime minister unharmed after attack on railway line between Ukraine and Poland

By Charles Hymas, Home Affairs Editor and  Emily Smith, Foreign Breaking News Reporter

A passenger train was hit by Russian drone strikes on a line that connects Ukraine to Poland Credit: State Emergency Service of Ukraine

Boris Johnson was on a train travelling from Ukraine to Poland when the railway line was targeted by a Russian drone.

The former prime minister was returning from a security conference in Kyiv when he was woken up by guards at 5am on Sunday and told to prepare for an evacuation.

The warning was issued after another passenger train behind Mr Johnson’s train was attacked in Volyn, just over a mile from the Polish border.

An all-clear was given shortly afterwards when no further drones were detected, enabling Mr Johnson’s train to continue its journey. Mr Johnson was unharmed, The Telegraph understands.

Carl Bildt, the former Swedish prime minister who was also on board the private train with other European diplomats, said they were told the train immediately behind them had been hit by a Russian drone.

“This wasn’t our train [that was hit], but the one just minutes after us by the [Polish] border crossing,” said Mr Bildt. “It was evacuated as the [Russian] drone approached and no one was hurt.”

Ukrainian authorities said the train was carrying 206 passengers, who were seen running in fear after the attack. They confirmed there were no casualties.

Footage circulating on social media appeared to show trucks on fire at the crossing, while Ukrainian media reported that a petrol station had also been hit. There were no immediate reports of casualties and the Polish military confirmed the attack.

After the attack, Mr Johnson posted on X:

The attack came two kilometres from the Polish border, according to Ukrainian railway officials, raising concerns about Russian strikes reaching increasingly close to Nato territory.

Mr Johnson was in Ukraine alongside advisers from other European nations for the Yalta European Strategy, a security conference where Western officials met officials from Volodymyr Zelensky’s government about possible peace negotiations with Russia.

Other attendees at the conference, which took place in the bunker of a Kyiv hotel, included Günter Sautter, one of the German chancellor Friedrich Merz’s closest advisers, who was also on board the train with Mr Johnson.

Boris Johnson went to the front line alongside Ukrainian soldiers  Credit: Two Rivers Media/Soho Studios

Robin Wagener, a Green Party member of the German parliament, who was also on board the train, expressed his shock after the attacks.

“These drone attacks are blind terror against Ukrainian civilians and a dangerous escalation in Putin’s war,” Mr Wagener told Der Spiegel.

Mr Johnson was a staunch ally of Kyiv while he was prime minister, overseeing hundreds of millions of pounds in financial support and weapons deliveries.

The UK’s decision to ship anti-tank weapons to Ukraine in January 2022, and Mr Johnson’s belief that Ukraine can win the war, made him immensely popular.

Mr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, has described him as a “special” leader who played a key role in shaping Europe’s support of Kyiv in the early stages of the war.

One Kyiv bakery created a special pastry, which mimicked Mr Johnson’s anarchic mop of blond hair, as a show of gratitude. A 2022 poll in Ukraine found he had a 90 per cent approval rating.

Mr Johnson has continued to visit Ukraine since his resignation in July 2023, such as for his TV documentary, Boris Johnson: Into Ukraine’s Kill Zone, which aired over the summer.

The attack was one of two Russian strikes near the Polish border overnight, after a truck was hit 800 metres from the Dorohusk-Yahodyn border crossing, one of the most important links with the European Union.

Polish jets were scrambled and an emergency alarm sounded.

“Due to the activity of the Russian Federation’s jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicles conducting strikes on Ukrainian territory, military aviation operations have commenced in Polish airspace,” Polish armed forces said on social media.

Polish border guards said the crossing ‌point stopped working after the attack but had since resumed operations.

Video footage showed a large fire at a gas station near the crossing point, with smoke billowing into the sky. There were no reported casualties from the fire.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had targeted infrastructure facilitating military cargo shipments from Europe in western Ukraine.

Ukraine operates several ‌border crossings with Poland, through which a significant proportion of the ⁠military ⁠and humanitarian aid from its allies is delivered to the country.

Mr Zelensky described the strikes as “deliberate”. Writing on X, he said: “It is precisely to prevent these strikes from spreading further into Europe that Ukrainian men and women fight every day, give their lives, and do not allow the aggression to expand.”

The strikes are another example of Russia’s increasingly aggressive incursions on Nato’s doorstep.

Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said Putin was “knocking” on the doors of Nato and the EU.

“Russia’s barbaric strikes at the Ukraine-Poland border in Yahodyn are not just a continuation of its ‌attacks ‌on ⁠our state borders,” Mr Sybiha said on X.

“This is Putin’s terror ‘knocking’ directly on the doors of the EU and ⁠Nato. Russian barbarians are at your gate, dear partners,” he added.

Attacks on countries bordering the EU have intensified in recent months.

The Kremlin is suspected of being behind covert attacks on several sites in Nato member countries, including a warehouse in Britain, a weapons factory in Estonia and an airport in Germany.

Such is the fear gripping Eastern Europe that a Nato jet was also scrambled in Lithuania on Sunday and Vilnius airport was closed because of a possible drone sighting. However, it turned out to be a flock of birds, Lithuania’s ⁠National Crisis Management Centre said.

An apartment block engulfed by fire after a Russian air strike in Odesa, Ukraine Credit: Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP

Attacks continued elsewhere overnight, with five people injured because of a Russian drone attack in Odesa.

“Residential areas were damaged in several districts of ⁠the city. Authorities are assessing the full extent of the damage,” Serhiy Lysak, the head of Odesa military administration, said on Telegram. The attack came a day after two people were killed in strikes on the city.

Ukraine’s military, meanwhile, said it hit an oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai region and Taneco oil refinery in Russia’s Tatarstan.

Fires were reported at both facilities. Russian regional authorities said two people were killed and 12 injured in the strike on the Taneco refinery in Nizhnekamsk, Tatarstan.

Despite the attacks, the Kremlin has said three-way talks with Ukraine and the United States could take place next month.

“We do not rule out such a possibility; we are talking about the foreseeable future,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said when asked about talks potentially taking place in October.

In India, where Putin had attended a Brics summit, ‌Mr Peskov said that Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, and Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, had both offered help brokering a peace settlement.

Putin welcomed the readiness of the two leaders, he added.