Russian drones attacked railway infrastructure in western Ukraine

Author, News Department

Place of work, BBC

Published a minute ago

Reading time: 5 min

On Sunday, the Russian military carried out drone strikes on several targets located near Ukraine's border with Poland. Among other things, the locomotive of the Kyiv-Warsaw train at the Yagodin railway station in the Volyn region was damaged - foreign leaders arriving in Ukraine usually pass through it.

In addition to the locomotive, a gas station near the Yagodin checkpoint was damaged.

Videos have circulated on social networks showing burning trucks near the checkpoint. There is also footage of the consequences of a train hitting the locomotive and the evacuation of nearby passengers.

According to the Ukrainian BBC service, the gas station damaged by the Russian drone is located one kilometer from the Yagodin checkpoint. The item itself was not damaged.

“There was a blow to the locomotive of the Kyiv-Warsaw train two kilometers from the border,” a source in the Ukrzaliznytsia company told the BBC Ukrainian Service.

“All people, primarily the locomotive crew, were promptly warned by our monitoring group; the video shows the evacuation process,” the interlocutor added.

According to him, the railway infrastructure was not damaged, so the UAV attack will not affect the movement of trains in this direction.

At 12:00 local time the train had already entered Poland.

However, due to night and morning shelling, trains are delayed for 5–10 hours.

Was there a threat to YES forum participants?

The German publication Der Spiegel reported that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's security adviser Günter Sautter, as well as a number of European diplomats, were evacuated from a train near the Polish-Ukrainian border and witnessed a drone attack on the railway.

They were returning from Kyiv, where they took part in the annual YES (Yalta European Strategy) forum.

Ukrzaliznytsia told the BBC that a special train with officials managed to cross the border before the raid by Russian “martyrs”.

“YES Express crossed the border about an hour and a half before our shunting locomotive was hit at the Yagodin station. We cannot say who exactly was the target, only the fact that no one was hurt,” the company said.

As the Financial Times notes, this railway line has been used by Western leaders visiting Ukraine.

The train that passed through the area before the impact included former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, among others. “It was not our train, but the one that passed through the checkpoint after us just a few minutes,” Bildt wrote on the X network. “People were evacuated from it when the drone was approaching and no one was injured. Very good security system."

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga said Russia attacked the “state borders” of Ukraine and called it “terror.” “Russia’s barbaric attacks near the Ukraine-Poland border checkpoint in Yagodina are not just a continuation of attacks on our state borders. This is Putin’s terror, which is “knocking” right on the doors of the EU and NATO. Russian barbarians are at your gates, dear partners,” he wrote on the “X” social network.

The minister called on Europe to “use the full force of its sanctions against Putin’s aggressive regime.”

“Make Moscow feel the consequences of its terror. Not partial solutions, but decisive and powerful steps. Complete trade embargo. Complete entry ban. Full sanctions against the military-industrial complex,” the minister said.

The head of the Polish Ministry of Defense, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysh, confirmed the strikes of two Russian drones of the Geranium-5 type near the Polish border. According to him, one of them struck one kilometer from the border, the other five kilometers. No border violations were recorded.

F-16 aircraft, helicopters and a SAAB air reconnaissance aircraft were used to guard Polish airspace.

“The Russians are changing their attack tactics, increasingly using jet drones, which they launch several at a time, and thus break through the Ukrainian defenses. Thanks to our military, the Polish air defense is always in full readiness,” said Kosiniak-Kamysh.

Attacks on other settlements in Western Ukraine

Russia attacks the western regions of Ukraine for the second day in a row. On Saturday, September 12, attack drones of the Shahed type attacked railway stations and trains in Volyn: in Lutsk and Kovel.

The head of the Volyn regional military administration, Roman Romanyuk, said that the region was attacked by about 20 UAVs.

In the Kovel community, several hits to critical infrastructure were recorded. Five people were injured as a result of the shelling.

As a result of the falling debris of the downed “shaheds,” outbuildings and a private house in the village of Zarechye, Kovel region, were destroyed (the roofs were damaged, there were no casualties).

Russian drone strikes were also recorded on Sunday morning in the city of Stryi (Lviv region).

City officials said the drones hit an apartment building near the bypass road, business and residential buildings near the station, and a school building. There are no casualties.

In the Khmelnytsky region, debris from a Russian drone fell on the territory of one of the enterprises in the Khmelnytsky district, and a fire broke out. There was no information about the dead or wounded.

The Ivano-Frankivsk region was also attacked. Local authorities said an industrial facility was damaged as a result of the UAV strike. One person was injured and hospitalized.

On September 13, drones also attacked Ternopil. According to the authorities, an infrastructure object was hit and one casualty is known.

Russia has publicly admitted that it attacked a railway in the western regions of Ukraine.