Russian Drone Hits Kyiv-Warsaw Train Near Poland
A Russian drone hit the Kyiv-Warsaw train's locomotive two kilometers from the Polish border, part of a nearly 500-drone attack on western Ukraine. Kyiv demands full sanctions, Warsaw boosts defenses.
Ukraine’s foreign minister called for full sanctions against Russia after the attack on the Kyiv-Warsaw railway, an appeal that indirectly concerns Serbia too, the only European Union candidate country that has not imposed sanctions on Moscow. A drone struck the locomotive of a passenger train bound for Warsaw early on Sunday, September 13, in Volyn region, just two kilometers from the border with Poland, a member of both the European Union and NATO, near the Yahodyn-Dorohusk crossing.
What Happened Near the Border
According to Polish carrier PKP Intercity, the train was carrying 206 passengers. No one was hurt, either on board or on the Polish side of the border. Ukraine’s national railway, Ukrzaliznycja, said its oversight team had warned the crew of the danger in advance. “The oversight team warned the train crew of the threat in advance,” the company said in a statement. PKP Intercity confirmed the train was delayed more than six hours and continued on to Warsaw after border checks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow had hit the locomotive deliberately.
“All the necessary services are working near the Polish-Ukrainian border in Volyn region, where the Russians deliberately burned the train’s locomotive and damaged a gas station in a drone attack.”
Zelensky added that Ukraine defends Europe from the spread of Russian aggression every day. According to Valentyna Chernysh, spokeswoman for the Volyn customs service, a fire broke out at a nearby gas station after the attack, and several trucks also caught fire at the crossing. Polish sources say a truck was hit around 800 meters from the crossing itself. The border crossing was briefly closed during the air raid alert before traffic returned to normal. Poland recorded no violation of its own airspace but activated its air defense and reconnaissance systems.
Part of the Same Attack, Not a New Strike
The strike on the train was not a separate incident on a different day, as the timeline alone might suggest, but part of the same, continuous overnight attack that began on the evening of September 12, when Russia launched around 500 drones and missiles at Volyn and Rivne regions in western Ukraine. The locomotive was hit several hours later, in the early morning of September 13, during the same wave of strikes rather than a distinct follow-up attack.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 453 Shahed and Gerbera-type drones that night, including jet-powered Shaheds and Parodiya decoys, along with S8000 Banderol missiles. Ukrainian air defense shot down 405 drones and six missiles; impacts were recorded at 13 locations, and debris from downed aircraft fell in seven more. In Volyn region alone, drones injured at least five people over the previous 24 hours, according to regional governor Roman Romaniuk.
Why the Death Toll Varies
Reports on the overall casualty toll from that day’s attacks across Ukraine differ. The Kyiv Independent reports six civilians killed and 43 injured nationwide: three killed and 11 injured in Donetsk region, one killed and three injured in Chernihiv region, one killed and nine injured in Kherson region, and a 71-year-old woman killed in Mykolaiv region. TRT World, on the other hand, reports at least two civilians killed in that day’s strikes, without a detailed regional breakdown.
Sanctions and Defense as the Response
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the attack a threat to all of Europe. “This is Putin’s terror knocking directly on the doors of the European Union and NATO,” Sybiha wrote on X.
“Russian barbarians are at your gate, dear partners. Act now: throw the full weight of your sanctions at Putin’s aggressive regime. A full trade embargo. Full entry bans. Full sanctions on the military-industrial complex.”
Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said Warsaw is following the situation without letting up. “We treat these events with the utmost seriousness. The situation is being monitored continuously,” Kierwinski said, adding that “Russia is the enemy of the free world.” Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk linked the attack to military aid for Kyiv: “Every missile destroyed and every drone shot down in Ukraine is a threat that will not fly further.”
The Region and Serbia
The attack comes a week after a visit by American envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv, part of Washington’s push to revive talks on ending the war. A week earlier, Russian forces had targeted gas stations in Kyiv in a strike that killed two people, as we reported at the time.
For Belgrade, the message cuts two ways. On one hand, a drone landing two kilometers from the border of an EU and NATO member confirms that the war is increasingly brushing up against the very edge of the Union Serbia hopes to join. On the other, Kyiv’s call for full sanctions on Russia’s military-industrial complex again puts on the table a question Brussels has been asking the Serbian government for years: whether, and when, Belgrade will align with the sanctions regime the rest of the candidate countries already apply. That answer, along with Brussels’ next steps over the strike near Yahodyn, is still to come in the days ahead.
