Strikes Near the Border
Russian drone attacks early Sunday struck targets near Ukraine's western border with Poland, damaging a gas station in the town of Yahodyn and hitting the locomotive of a passenger train traveling from Kyiv to Warsaw, Ukrainian authorities said.
The Yahodyn attack occurred hundreds of meters from the Polish border, with a Polish official telling Reuters the site was about 800 meters from the frontier. Debris from the strike set fire to the gas station building and several parked trucks, according to Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne. The border crossing was temporarily shut but resumed normal operations by 10 a.m. local time, Ukrainian and Polish officials said. Volyn Customs spokeswoman Valentyna Chernysh told the Kyiv Post that falling munitions ignited a blaze at a commercial gas station complex and engulfed several freight trucks.
In a separate incident, Ukraine's state rail operator Ukrzaliznytsia reported that a Russian drone struck the locomotive of a passenger train in the Volyn region, approximately two kilometers from the Polish border. The rail company said its monitoring team detected the threat and alerted the train crew in advance, allowing passengers and staff to take shelter. No injuries were reported on the train.
Train Evacuation and Western Officials
The affected train was carrying 206 passengers, according to PKP Intercity, the Polish rail operator that took control of the service after it crossed into Poland. The train was delayed about six hours before continuing to Warsaw, Polish railways said.
Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was traveling from a security conference in Kyiv to Poland, was on a separate train in the area that was briefly evacuated early Sunday morning. Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, who was also on that train, told reporters that the train immediately behind theirs was hit by the drone. "This wasn't our train [that was hit], but the one just minutes after us by the [Polish] border crossing," Bildt said. "It was evacuated as the [Russian] drone approached and no one was hurt. Our train just had an evacuation warning but could proceed to Dorohusk."
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's foreign and security-policy adviser, Günter Sautter, was also reported to be on the same train as Johnson. There was no indication that the train carrying the former prime minister was struck.
Official Reactions
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha condemned the strikes in a post on X, writing: "Russia's barbaric strikes at the Ukraine-Poland border crossing point in Yahodyn are 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." He urged Western allies to impose full trade embargoes, entry bans, and sanctions on Russia's military-industrial complex.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attacks had "deliberately burned a train locomotive and damaged a gas station in a drone strike." He said that in the past week alone, Russia had fired more than 2,000 drones at Ukraine, many of them jet-powered. "It is precisely to prevent these strikes from spreading further into Europe that Ukrainian men and women fight every day," he wrote on Telegram.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said there was no violation of Polish airspace but called the incident an "escalation" by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said, "We treat these events with the utmost seriousness. Russia is the enemy of the free world."
Poland's Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said Polish systems detected an attack by several Geran-5 jet-powered drones in western Ukraine, with one striking one kilometer from the Polish border and another five kilometers away. He said Polish airspace was monitored by F-16 fighter jets, helicopters, and a Saab airborne reconnaissance aircraft during the attack, with no violation recorded.
Polish Emergency Meeting and Broader Context
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk convened an emergency security meeting at the Government Security Center on Sunday afternoon, with the interior minister, the national defense minister, and intelligence representatives. The Prime Minister's Office said the meeting would focus on the security situation following "further Russian attacks in the immediate vicinity of Poland."
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched more than 450 drones at Ukraine overnight, including jet-propelled drones. Ukrainian officials reported at least three people killed and 36 injured in the overnight strikes, while other reports put the death toll at six with more than 40 injured, figures that could not be reconciled in initial reporting. Ukraine's air force said it intercepted 405 drones and four missiles.
In a separate development, Lithuanian authorities briefly closed Vilnius airport and scrambled NATO fighter jets after a perceived drone sighting that was later identified as a flock of birds, Reuters reported.