Russian drone hits train locomotive near Polish border after Western officials pass

Drone strike at the Polish border

Early on Sunday morning, 13 September 2026, a Russian drone strike targeted railway infrastructure near the Jahodyn-Dorohusk border crossing between Ukraine and Poland. The strike occurred in the Volyn region, approximately two kilometres from the border line. A Russian drone hit the locomotive of a passenger train travelling from Kyiv to Warsaw. Ukrainian railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia had received advance warning from its monitoring team, allowing personnel to decouple the locomotive and evacuate all 206 passengers and crew members before impact. Polish railway operator PKP confirmed that no injuries occurred among the passengers. A replacement locomotive subsequently attached to the carriages to complete the journey into Poland once the alert subsided.

Western delegation narrowly avoids attack

Minutes before the struck train arrived in the border area, a separate chartered train carrying prominent Western officials had traversed the same railway corridor. Passengers on board included former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, former CIA Director David Petraeus, and Günter Sautter, the foreign and security policy advisor to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The delegation was returning from Kyiv after attending the annual Yalta European Strategy conference and holding talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky regarding potential peace negotiations. Around 05:00, the delegation's train halted two kilometres from the Polish frontier when an incoming drone warning sounded. The train resumed its route into Dorohusk after security teams determined no direct threat remained.

This was not our train, but the train that was only a few minutes behind ours at the border crossing. The train was evacuated as the drone approached, nobody was injured. Very good safety system. Our train received an evacuation warning, but was able to continue to Dorohusk afterwards. Russian attacks against Ukraine are intensifying.

Ukrzaliznytsia stated that the diplomatic train had departed Kyiv ahead of schedule and suggested that it may have been the intended target of the drone strike.

Broader overnight assault across Ukraine

The rail strike took place during an overnight aerial offensive across Ukraine. The Ukrainian Air Force recorded 453 Russian drones deployed during the operation, primarily targeting western and southern regions. Ukrainian air defence units reported intercepting 409 of the incoming drones. Ground strikes across the country resulted in six deaths and injuries to more than 40 people. Near the Jahodyn border post, drones struck a fuel station and a commercial truck roughly 800 metres from Polish territory. In response to the proximity of the strikes, the Polish Air Force scrambled fighter jets to safeguard its national airspace. In the southern port city of Odesa, strikes injured nine individuals, following an attack the previous day that killed two residents in a residential block.

Political reactions and retaliatory strikes

Ukrainian officials condemned the strikes, pointing to the deliberate targeting of critical transit hubs near the eastern frontier of the European Union and NATO.

This is Putin's terror knocking directly at the doors of the EU and NATO. Russian barbarians are at your gate, dear partners.

German Green Party lawmaker Robin Wagener, who was also aboard the diplomatic train, characterised the incident to Der Spiegel as terror against civilians and a dangerous escalation. Beyond Ukraine, cross-border strikes hit Russian territory overnight. Russian authorities reported two civilian deaths in Nizhnekamsk in the Tatarstan region when a drone struck near a parked vehicle, while another drone strike injured three individuals and damaged an oil pipeline at a refinery in the southern Krasnodar region.