Conflict & Security
Kyiv-Warsaw train hit near Polish border
Poland and Ukraine denounced Russian strikes close to the Polish border on Sunday after officials said a Kyiv-Warsaw passenger train was hit about two kilometres from Poland. No casualties were reported in that strike.
Ukraine's state rail operator, Ukrzaliznytsia, said a diplomatic train carrying security advisers from several EU member states and former European leaders, including former British prime minister Boris Johnson, was at Yagodyn station around the time of the attack. It said former CIA director David Petraeus was in another train at the station at the moment of the attack.
The rail operator did not say how far the officials were from the strike site. Petraeus told The New York Times by phone that he heard Russian drones overhead followed by an explosion and that passengers were quickly evacuated.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow “deliberately” struck the locomotive. Russia said it had hit “railway infrastructure used to transport military cargo” from European countries.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk chaired an emergency meeting in Warsaw after the strikes and said he expected Russia to escalate the war “in the coming weeks”. He said Poland could not exclude that escalation would affect its territory, while adding that he hoped it would not.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, speaking in Kyiv, said the strike was close to the Polish border and affected the safety of Polish citizens. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said Russian President Vladimir Putin considered Russia to be “de facto” at war with Europe.
Ukrainian officials also said Russian attacks killed at least two people on Sunday in the frontline city of Kramatorsk and wounded 20 people, including two children, in a second day of attacks on Odesa.
The strikes came as US President Donald Trump called on Zelensky to halt attacks on Russian refineries, saying they were causing diesel shortages and that there were “plenty of other targets”. Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian oil refineries in an effort to hurt Russia's war effort.
The Kremlin said negotiations involving Ukraine, Russia and the United States could take place in October, according to Russian state news agencies. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said a proposed Zelensky-Putin meeting at the G20 summit in Miami in December was impossible, repeating Moscow's demand that such a meeting take place in the Russian capital.
Update
David Petraeus told The New York Times he heard Russian drones overhead followed by an explosion and that passengers were quickly evacuated.
Boris Johnson condemned the strike in a post on X while travelling separately with several EU officials.
US President Donald Trump called on Volodymyr Zelensky to halt attacks on Russian refineries, saying they were causing diesel shortages and that there were other targets.
Source note: AFP news report published on 14 September 2026 at 02:55:43 UTC.
Update
Poland and Ukraine denounced the strikes close to the Polish border as an “escalation”.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk chaired an emergency meeting and warned that escalation could affect Polish territory.
Russia said it hit railway infrastructure used to transport military cargo from European countries.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said allies should double support for Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said Russia was already de facto at war with the Euro-Atlantic space.
Source note: AFP news report published on 13 September 2026 at 17:57:39 UTC.
Update
Ukraine's state railway operator said former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was on a diplomatic train at Yagodyn station shortly before the locomotive was hit.
Ukrzaliznytsia said security advisers from several EU member states and former European leaders were also on the diplomatic train.
The railway operator said former CIA Director David Petraeus was in another train at Yagodyn station at the moment of the attack.
Source note: AFP news report published on 13 September 2026 at 16:45:03 UTC.
Update
Polish interior ministry spokeswoman Karolina Galecka said an unmanned aircraft hit a fuel station in Yahodyn, two kilometres from the Polish border.
Galecka said two trucks caught fire after the strike.
Source note: AFP news report published on 13 September 2026 at 16:38:32 UTC.
Update
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski accused Vladimir Putin of escalating the conflict after the strikes near the Polish border.
Ukrainian officials said separate Russian attacks killed at least two people in Kramatorsk and wounded 20 people, including two children, in Odesa.
The Kremlin said three-way negotiations with Ukraine and the United States could take place in October.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a Zelensky-Putin meeting at the G20 summit in Miami in December was impossible.
Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov said there was still no coordinated package on which negotiations could be based.
Source note: AFP news report published on 13 September 2026 at 13:21:29 UTC.
Uncertainty notes
Ukrzaliznytsia did not say how far the officials were from the strike site.
Ukraine and Russia gave different descriptions of the target: Ukraine said a locomotive on a passenger route was deliberately struck, while Russia said it hit railway infrastructure used for military cargo.
Source
AFP news report published on .