Boris drone attack warning as company says former PM's train could have been real target of Putin's blitz
Ukraine’s state railway company said Mr Johnson’s train had left Yahodyn station earlier than expected, and it could have been Russia’s real target
Boris Johnson's diplomatic train could have been the true target of a Russian drone attack which disrupted his route back from a security conference in Kyiv.
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The former Prime Minister said a stationary Ukrainian locomotive had been hit on Sunday morning, describing the incident as a “random and senseless attack” on civilian railways.
His train was reportedly about an hour behind the locomotive damaged in the strike.
In a post on X, Mr Johnson said: “I don’t know what warped logic drove Putin to blow up a stationary Ukrainian locomotive on the Polish border this morning.”
Ukraine’s state railway company said Mr Johnson’s train had left Yahodyn station earlier than expected, and it could have been Russia’s real target.
The firm, Ukrzaliznytsia, said in a statement: “It is entirely possible that the Russian drone’s intended target was the diplomatic train.”
It added that the service “departed the station earlier than scheduled after train timetables were adjusted in real time because of the constant threat of Russian strikes”.
Johnson claimed 1,700 Ukrainian railway staff had been killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion began, praising rail workers and passengers as “absolutely heroic”.
I don’t know what warped logic drove Putin to blow up a stationary Ukrainian locomotive on the Polish border this morning. 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. So far Putin…
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) September 13, 2026
In the wake of the attack, Mr Johnson renewed calls for Western allies to supply Ukraine with more air defences and to use frozen Russian assets to support the country.
He said there was more than €140 billion held in a Belgian bank account and around £10 billion in London, adding: “Britain could show a lead.”
It comes after reports that a train carrying Mr Johnson and European officials was evacuated following a Russian drone strike near the Polish border.
There was previous speculation that Boris Johnson was among passengers on a train halted near the Polish border after a Russian drone strike hit a Kyiv-Warsaw service on the same railway line.
Russian drone struck the locomotive of the Kyiv–Warsaw passenger train in Ukraine, around 2 kilometres from the Polish border.
— GeoInsider (@InsiderGeo) September 13, 2026
The train was carrying 206 passengers and was still operating on the Ukrainian side of the journey when the attack happened. The passengers were not… https://t.co/t6T5CDC91t
LBC has since received confirmation that the former prime minister was not evacuated from the locomotive. The former Prime Minister is unharmed, LBC understands.
The security alert was triggered after a drone hit the locomotive of another Kyiv-Warsaw train close to the Polish border. The affected service was carrying 206 passengers.
Railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia said everyone was evacuated in time and nobody was injured.
Passengers were reportedly seen running from the train as the attack unfolded, while other services were held up.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s foreign and security-policy adviser, Günter Sautter, was also reported to have been travelling on the “special train” with Mr Johnson.