International outrage after Russian drone strike on train at Ukraine–Poland border: Sikorski speaks of ‘escalation’, Tusk convenes security council

The international reaction was swift after a Russian drone struck a Kyiv–Warsaw passenger train in western Ukraine on Sunday, just before it entered Poland near the Dorohusk–Yahodyn border crossing. Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, speaking from Kyiv, called the attack an “escalation” and urged Ukraine’s international partners to step up support, while Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk convened an urgent meeting of the security council.

On Monday, speaking from the European Arctic Summit in Finland, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said, according to Reuters, that the Russian attack was aimed at intimidating and dividing Europeans. On Sunday evening, British Defence Minister Wes Streeting called the strike a “stark reminder” of what Ukrainians face every day, underscoring the broader security threat posed by Russia.

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had traveled on the diplomatic train just minutes earlier, strongly condemned the attack, saying he did not know what “warped logic” had driven Putin to blow up “a stationary Ukrainian locomotive.” Ukrainian Railways said it was “highly likely” that the real target was precisely the diplomatic train — carrying Johnson, former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, former CIA Director David Petraeus, and ministers and diplomats returning from the Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv.

Another Russian drone also struck near the Dorohusk–Yahodyn border crossing and a nearby fuel station, setting two trucks on fire; Poland announced there had been no violation of its airspace. The drone hit the passenger train’s locomotive, and all 206 passengers were evacuated unharmed following an early warning.

The train attack was not the only one: Russia also struck other targets overnight — at least two people were killed in Kramatorsk and about 20 injured in Odesa, including two children — while a Russian drone entered Moldovan airspace.

Source: Le Monde