Terrifying moment passengers flee for their lives during Putin drone attack 'targeting Boris Johnson's train'
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
This is the moment train passengers run for their lives after a terrifying Russian drone attack said to be targeting a train carrying Boris Johnson.
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Mr Johnson was on a train close to the Ukraine-Poland border when a drone hit a train just behind the one carrying the former PM.
Ukraine's state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia said that "quite possibly, the target of this drone could have been the diplomatic train".
The rail company said the diplomatic train "had left the station earlier than expected because of the timetable change... due to constant threats of Russian strikes".
Russian forces launched an attack near the Yahodyn checkpoint along Ukraine’s border with Poland on Sept. 13.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 13, 2026
A nearby gas station was reportedly damaged in the strike, according to local authorities.
“Russia’s barbaric strikes near the Ukrainian-Polish border in Yahodyn are… pic.twitter.com/4wJuladGYM
The train behind his was blown up by Putin's forces in a 'random and senseless attack' at around 5am local time.
Video footage has emerged showing people fleeing for their lives and cowering as they run down a platform between two trains.
A huge explosion can be seen and heard in the background as a vast plume of smoke rises into the sky.
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”.
Mr 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.”
LBC has received confirmation that the former prime minister was not evacuated from the locomotive. The former Prime Minister is unharmed.
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.