European leaders expressed outrage Monday, a day after a Russian drone strike targeted a train near the Ukraine-Poland border, shortly senior visiting officials, including the former prime ministers of the U.K. and Sweden, passed through.
According to Ukrzaliznytsia, a diplomatic train carrying Boris Johnson, Carl Bildt and security advisers from several European Union states had purposely left the station at Yahodyn ahead of schedule. The visitors were on their way back from a security conference in Kyiv.
"It is highly probable that the Russian drone's intended target was in fact the diplomatic train, which had departed the station earlier than scheduled," the company said in a Telegram post.
Bildt, the former Swedish PM, shared a video on X of the attack at Yahodyn station, near the Yahodyn-Dorohusk border crossing with Poland.
"This wasn't our train, but the one just minutes after us by the Polish border crossing," Bildt said. "It was evacuated as the Russian drone approached and no one was hurt. Very good safety system. Our train just had an evacuation warning."
Bildt, Johnson and fellow passengers had been in Kyiv for the Yalta European Strategy conference, which is an annual gathering of leaders and experts across politics, business, security and media.
Another train, with former CIA Director David Petraeus on board, was still at Yahodyn station when the drone struck, according to Ukrzaliznytsia.
There were no immediate reports of casualties on any of the trains.
Ukrzaliznytsia said it "constantly adjusts train schedules" to guard against strikes.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Monday that Russian drone strikes near the Ukraine-Poland border would drive the military alliance to increase its support for Kyiv, calling the attacks on Sunday a sign of growing desperation by the forces under Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"The strikes yesterday on trains in Ukraine close to NATO territory again show Putin's desperation and also his desire to sow fear and terror," Rutte said at NATO's political headquarters in Brussels. "Russia is growing increasingly reckless as it continues its terrible war against Ukraine."
Rutte pledged to increase support for Ukraine and bolster the 32-nation alliance's own defenses along its long eastern border with Russia.
"He thinks that he can stop us from supporting Ukraine and that he can undermine our unity. He is wrong," the NATO chief said of Putin.
Kaja Kallas, the European Union's top diplomat, said Monday that the drone attacks near Poland's border were "clearly meant to scare Western countries from supporting Ukraine."
"We should show that we are there for Ukraine and we are not scared," she said.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Monday that Russia seeks to "divide" and "intimidate" Kyiv's European allies after a drone attack near a train carrying European officials in Ukraine.
"These attacks have a very clear objective: to intimidate Europeans, discourage them and, above all, divide them," Barrot told reporters on the sidelines of the European Arctic Summit in Finland.
He pointed out that the strikes occurred "as Ukraine was hosting a major economic support forum, attended by a large number of business representatives and diplomatic officials from around the world, particularly from Europe," according to broadcaster BFMTV.
Meanwhile, the office of U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Monday that Russian strikes were aimed at undermining international support but Britain would not be deterred.
A spokesperson for his Downing Street office told journalists that the attack "was a futile attempt by Russia to undermine our support for Ukraine. It will not deter us."
