A Russian drone struck a railway line near the Ukraine-Poland border shortly after two former prime ministers and other foreign delegates had travelled along the same route, Ukrainian railway authorities said. No casualties were reported.
The train route is regularly used by international delegations travelling from Kyiv to Poland. According to Ukraine’s railway operator, the strike occurred about two kilometres from the Polish border.
Former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt said on social media that the targeted train had travelled minutes after the train carrying his delegation passed through the area. He said the train was evacuated as the drone approached and that no one was injured.
Bildt and other politicians had been travelling to Poland after attending a conference in Kyiv.
Ukraine’s railway operator said the Russian drone may have been targeting the diplomatic train. The train carrying the delegation had departed earlier than originally scheduled after railway timetables were adjusted in response to the continuing threat of Russian attacks.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had targeted infrastructure used to facilitate the movement of military cargo from Europe into western Ukraine.
Former British prime minister Boris Johnson, who was also travelling on the train that left shortly before the attack, condemned the strike as “random and senseless”.
With little movement along the main front lines, Russia and Ukraine have intensified long-range attacks in recent weeks in an effort to weaken each other’s military and economic infrastructure.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski described the latest attacks near the country’s border as an escalation, saying Russia was increasing strikes close to NATO territory.
Earlier on Sunday, a truck less than a kilometre from the Ukrainian-Polish border was also hit. The incident briefly disrupted operations at the Dorohusk-Yahodyn border crossing.
Russia has increasingly targeted Ukrainian border infrastructure and crossings linked to its Western allies in recent weeks, while Ukraine has also expanded attacks on Russian economic and energy facilities.
Fighting continued elsewhere, with no immediate indication of a broader reduction in hostilities.
In Russian-controlled territory in southeastern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, the head of Russia’s state nuclear energy company Rosatom accused Ukrainian forces of attacking fuel trucks near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
The facility, Europe’s largest nuclear power station, has been under Russian control since March 2022 and remains close to the front line.
Meanwhile, in Russia, the mayor of Nizhnekamsk in the Volga region of Tatarstan said Ukrainian drones had struck civilian and industrial targets in the city, killing two people and injuring several others.
Mayor Radmir Belyaev did not specify which facilities were hit. Nizhnekamsk is home to a major oil refinery that has previously been targeted in drone attacks.
Ukrainian authorities did not immediately comment on the reported strikes in Nizhnekamsk. However, they said Ukrainian forces had targeted another oil refinery in the southern Krasnodar region.
