Russian drone hits train near Poland border shortly after Boris Johnson and EU officials passed through

A Russian drone hit a train at Yahodyn station near the Ukraine-Poland border, damaging its locomotive, shortly after former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and several senior European security officials, including the UK's Jonathan Powell, had passed along the same railway line while returning from a conference in Kyiv.

Ukraine's state railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia said the jet-propelled drone had been detected and an evacuation order issued 15 minutes before the strike, meaning there were no casualties. All passengers had been safely evacuated. The company confirmed that the train carrying Johnson and the other officials had earlier been at Yahodyn station but had been dispatched ahead of schedule. Ukrzaliznytsia suggested the drone's target may well have been this diplomatic train.

The railway authority also said former CIA director David Petraeus had been aboard another train at Yahodyn station at the time of the strike. Polish authorities reported that the drone struck about 2km from the Polish border.

Former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt, who had also attended the Kyiv conference, said passengers on his train were told to prepare for evacuation after it stopped, but were informed a few minutes later that the situation was clear and the journey could continue.

Johnson said he did not understand what logic led Russian President Vladimir Putin to strike a stationary Ukrainian locomotive near the Polish border, and called for urgent delivery of the air defences Ukraine needs.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the strike near the Ukraine-Poland border showed Putin's terror knocking directly on the doors of the EU and Nato, and renewed calls for further sanctions on Moscow to raise the cost of the war for Russia.