Poland, Ukraine slam Russian strikes near border as 'escalation'

TOKYO

Poland's Minister of Foreign Affairs Radoslaw Sikorski (L) gestures as he addresses the media next to Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Andriy Sybiga (R) as they take part in a joint briefing in Kiev on September 13, 2026, amid Russian invasion in Ukraine. (AFP Photo)

Poland and Ukraine denounced on Sept. 13 Russian strikes close to the Polish border that hit a Warsaw-bound train near a frontier checkpoint just after another train carrying several EU officials and British ex-PM Boris Johnson passed through.

Ukraine's rail operator said Johnson and former U.S. CIA director David Petraeus, who were in Kiev for the annual Yalta European Strategy forum, had been travelling on two separate trains around the time the Warsaw-bound locomotive was hit.

Petraeus told the New York Times in a telephone interview on Sept. 13 that he could hear Russian drones above followed by an explosion — prompting passengers to be quickly evacuated.

"For those who have not been under fire, this was terrifying... This is the act of a truly barbaric leader trying to terrorize Ukrainian civilians," he added.

Johnson, who was travelling with several EU officials on a separate train, condemned the attack in a post on X.

"I don't know what warped logic drove Putin to blow up a stationary Ukrainian locomotive on the Polish border this morning," he said.

"What we can say for sure is that this is the kind of random and senseless attack Ukrainians are enduring every day — even on civilian railways."

Poland and Ukraine said a Kiev-Warsaw passenger train was struck just two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Polish border, but reported no casualties.

Warsaw has been one of Kiev's main allies and, with Ukrainian airspace closed, trains to Poland have been one of the main routes out of the war-torn country, used by refugees.

The Ukrzaliznytsia rail operator confirmed the attack on Sept. 13 but did not say how far the officials were from the strike site.

"A diplomatic train was at Yagodyn station... among others, security advisers from several EU member states and former European leaders (were) on board, including former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson," the operator said.

"In another train that was at Yagodyn station at the very moment of the attack was former CIA Director David Petraeus."

The strikes came as U.S. President Donald Trump called on Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky to halt attacks on Russian refineries, saying it was causing a shortage of diesel fuel and "there are plenty of other targets".

Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian oil refineries in a bid to hurt Russia's war effort.

Russia attacked western Ukraine with drones Sept. 13, just days after U.S. envoys visited Kiev and Moscow in a bid to revive talks to end the war.

Zelensky said Moscow "deliberately" struck the locomotive.

"It is precisely to prevent these strikes from spreading further into Europe that Ukrainian men and women fight every day, give their lives, and do not allow the aggression to expand," Zelensky said.

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk chaired an emergency meeting in Warsaw following the strikes, warning he expected Russia to escalate the war "in the coming weeks".

He added: "We cannot exclude that the escalation will also affect our territory... I hope not."

Russia said it had hit "railway infrastructure used to transport military cargo" from European countries.

Speaking in Kiev, Poland's foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said the "escalation" should lead to allies to "double" their support for Ukraine.

"This was just a few hundred meters from the Polish border, this affects the safety of my countrymen," Sikorski said.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said President Vladimir Putin considered Russia was "de facto" at war with Europe.

"Putin's terror is literally knocking at the door of the European Union and NATO," Sybiga said.

Russian attacks killed at least two people on Sept. 13 in the frontline city of Kramatorsk.

Twenty people, including two children, were also wounded in a second day of attacks on the southern port city of Odesa, Ukrainian officials said.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, said negotiations with Ukraine and the United States on the war could take place in October.

"We do not rule out such a possibility; we are talking about the foreseeable future," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, cited by Russia's Ria and Tass news agencies.

Several rounds of negotiations have failed, while U.S.-led efforts stalled during the Middle East war.

In an interview released on Sept. 12, Zelensky said he would be willing to meet Putin at the G20 summit in Miami in December.

But Peskov said that was "impossible", speaking to AFP in New Delhi on Sept. 12, repeating Moscow's demand that a meeting could only take place in the Russian capital.