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A Russian drone struck the locomotive of a passenger train two kilometres from the Polish border on Sunday, Ukraine’s state-owned rail operator Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukrainian Railways) said.
The attack reportedly took place in Ukraine’s Volyn region. There are not believed to have been any casualties from the incident.
“For the second day in a row, the enemy has been attacking the railways. Today in the Volyn region, two km from the border with Poland, the enemy struck the locomotive of a passenger train,” Ukrzaliznytsia said on Telegram.
A tragedy was apparently averted thanks in part to an early warning. The team responsible for monitoring threats to the rail service detected the danger and alerted the train crew in good time, allowing them time to take measures to protect passengers and staff, per the company.
“We are continuing to monitor aerial threats, ensure the smooth running of trains and take every possible measure to ensure the safety of passengers and railway staff,” it added.
The strike near the Polish border came as part of a broader Russian air offensive.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched more than 450 drones at Ukraine overnight, including jet-propelled drones and Banderol missile drones.
At least three people were killed and 36 people were injured in the overnight strikes.
Russian attacks also hit regions of western Ukraine bordering Poland.
The scale of the attacks meant that traffic at Polish–Ukrainian border crossings had to be temporarily restricted. Border Guard spokesperson Major Dariusz Sienicki told the PAP news agency that checks had been suspended overnight for safety reasons.
Border traffic has now returned to normal at Dorohusk, Zosin and Dołhobyczów. Processing at Hrebenne was also expected to resume.
The Border Guard did not record any direct threat at Polish crossings.
“We only received information from the Ukrainian side that a drone struck and destroyed a lorry at a distance of about 800 metres from the Jagodzin crossing,” Major Sienicki said.
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was among a number of political figures and diplomats on board a train that stopped and was partially evacuated while heading from Kyiv to Poland amid drone warnings on Sunday morning, German outlet Der Spiegel reported.
Russia ‘knocking at the doors of the EU and NATO’
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the “barbaric Russian strikes” were “not just a continuation of its attacks on our state borders.”
“This is Putin’s terror ‘knocking’ directly on the doors of the EU and NATO. Russian barbarians are at your gate, dear partners,” he wrote on X, while also calling for further sanctions against Moscow.
“Make Moscow feel the consequences of its terror. Not just half-decisions, but uncompromising, powerful steps. Full trade embargo. Full entry bans. Full sanctions on the military-industrial complex,” he urged.
Poland scrambled military aircraft
In response to the Russian attacks on western Ukraine, the Polish armed forces took steps to secure the country’s airspace, with the deployment of Polish aircraft and other preventive measures.
Residents of the Lublin and Podkarpackie regions received a morning alert from the Government Centre for Security warning of a Russian air attack on Ukrainian territory and informing them about the activity of Polish military aircraft. The alert was cancelled at around 9 am, after roughly five hours.
Shortly before 10 am, the Operational Command of the Armed Forces announced that military aircraft were no longer operating in Polish airspace. It stressed at the same time that Poland’s airspace had not been violated.
Poland’s defence minister, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, said Polish defence systems had detected an early-morning attack using Geran-5 drones in western Ukraine.
“One of them struck 1 km from the border with Poland, another 5 km. The Polish airspace was guarded by F16 aircraft, helicopters, and the SAAB airborne reconnaissance aircraft. There was no breach of our border,” he said.