Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and several senior European officials found themselves at the center of a tense security incident on Sunday when a Russian drone struck a passenger train locomotive near Ukraine’s border with Poland.
The attack, which took place in Ukraine’s Volyn region just two kilometres from the Polish border, highlighted the escalating threat posed by Moscow’s strikes on infrastructure adjacent to NATO territory.
The drone hit the locomotive of a Kyiv-Warsaw passenger train, forcing passengers to evacuate or temporarily leave the train as Ukrainian authorities responded to the threat. Fortunately, no injuries were reported. Johnson was traveling on a separate train ahead of the one that was hit. He, along with other prominent Western figures, was returning from the Yalta European Strategy (YES) conference in Kyiv, which gathered political leaders, diplomats, and security officials from Ukraine and its allies.
The 2026 YES meeting, held on September 11-12 under the banner “Peace Through Strength NOW!”, drew around 700 participants from 28 countries, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Johnson, Günter Sautter (security adviser to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz), UK National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, and senior representatives from France, Italy, and other European nations.
Describing the strike as a “random and senseless attack,” Johnson underscored the daily dangers faced by Ukrainian civilians and railway workers. He used the incident to reiterate his call for stronger Western air-defence support for Ukraine and advocated for the use of frozen Russian assets to assist Kyiv. Johnson noted that more than €140 billion is held in a Belgian bank account and about £10 billion in London, urging Britain to lead efforts to direct these funds toward supporting Ukraine.
The drone strike occurred amid a broader wave of Russian attacks across Ukraine. According to Ukraine’s Air Force, Russia launched 453 drones in an overnight assault targeting critical infrastructure in multiple regions. The Kyiv-Warsaw railway is a crucial corridor connecting Ukraine with Poland, regularly used by diplomats, officials, aid workers, and other international visitors.
The attack heightened concerns in Poland, where authorities scrambled aircraft and activated security protocols in response to the strikes near its border. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the incident an act of Russian terror at “the doors of the EU and NATO,” while officials in Kyiv accused Moscow of deliberately targeting infrastructure linking Ukraine to its European neighbors.
Initial confusion surrounded whether Johnson’s train was the one hit by the drone, with early reports suggesting he and other senior officials may have been on board. Later clarifications confirmed that Johnson and several dignitaries had already passed through the area on a different train before the strike occurred, with the passenger service behind them sustaining the attack.
