Former Central Intelligence Agency Director David Petraeus and former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson narrowly escaped a Russian drone attack at a Ukrainian train station near the country’s border with Poland.
The attack occurred on Sunday morning while Petraeus’s train was located at Yahodyn railway station, and just after Johnson’s train left the location. The train carrying Johnson also had several European diplomats on board and departed the station ahead of schedule. Ukrzaliznytsia, the Ukrainian government’s railway agency, speculated that the train carrying Johnson and the European diplomats was the target of the Russian attack, pointing to its early departure.
“I don’t know what warped logic drove Putin to blow up a stationary Ukrainian locomotive on the Polish border this morning,” Johnson 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.”
The Russian drones did not hit either of the trains carrying Johnson or Petraeus, but instead hit a passenger locomotive next to the train Petraeus was traveling on, located at the Yahodyn station. Both Petraeus’s train and the train hit by the attack were evacuated before the drone struck the premises.
“So far Putin has been responsible for the deaths of 1,700 staff of Ukrzaliznytsia – Ukrainian Railways. They and their daily passengers are absolutely heroic,” Johnson said.
Petraeus, Johnson, and the EU diplomats were all traveling back through Europe from the Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, according to United Press International.
“This is the act of a truly barbaric leader trying to terrorize Ukrainian civilians,” Petraeus said.
Current British national security adviser Jonathan Powell was also on board the train with Johnson, per the outlet.
The strike, if the Russians did intend to target the train carrying Johnson and current European Union diplomats, would make for a significant escalation in Russian violence targeting the EU, as member states worry about more possible Russian incursions into Europe.
“Russia is escalating. Our response must be maximum preparedness and strength,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X after the incident.
TRUMP SAYS UKRAINE AND RUSSIA HAVE AGREED TO ENERGY TARGET CEASEFIRE
On Monday, President Donald Trump, who has also recently insisted that Russia will not attack NATO territory, announced that Ukraine and Russia reached a ceasefire related to energy targets.
“Ukraine has agreed not to hit Russian Energy targets,” Trump said on Truth Social. “Russia has agreed to do, likewise! The World’s Diesel price rise is mostly caused by the Russia/Ukraine War, not Iran.”