A Russian drone train Poland border strike hit Yahodyn station in western Ukraine on Sunday, September 13, 2026, just minutes after a diplomatic train carrying former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, and European security advisers had passed through the same crossing. The station sits roughly 2 kilometres from the Yahodyn-Dorohusk border crossing with Poland, a NATO member.
No Casualties, But a Narrow Miss
Ukraine’s state railway operator, Ukrzaliznytsia, said no casualties were reported, though the strike hit the train’s engine and all passengers were evacuated. A separate train carrying former CIA Director David Petraeus was still at the station when the drone struck. The operator said it constantly adjusts train schedules to guard against Russian strikes, and suggested the diplomatic train itself may have been the intended target, since it had left the station earlier than planned.
Reactions From Those Aboard
Bildt, who had been travelling on a train just ahead of the one that was struck, described the incident on social media, saying his own train received an evacuation warning but that no one was hurt. Johnson condemned the strike as a senseless attack that Ukrainians face daily, even on civilian railways.
The group had been returning from the Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv, an annual gathering of political, security, and media figures.
Part of a Broader Pattern Near NATO’s Border
The train strike came the same day a Russian drone hit a truck less than a kilometre from Polish territory, briefly halting operations at the Dorohusk-Yahodyn crossing. Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had targeted infrastructure used to move military cargo from Europe into Ukraine. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski described the pattern of strikes near NATO’s border as an escalation.
Separately, Russia accused Ukraine of striking fuel trucks near the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, while Ukrainian drones reportedly killed at least two people in the Russian city of Nizhnekamsk, home to a major oil refinery.
