photo: Sylwester Uchanski / REUTERS/Fire following a Russian drone strike near the Dorohusk-Yagodin checkpoint, 13 September, 2026
A Russian jet-powered drone hit the locomotive of a passenger train near the Polish border on 13 September. Around 30 minutes earlier, a separate train carrying former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and senior European security officials had crossed into Poland on the same route, according to the BBC.
The strike happened near Yahodyn, around 2 km from Poland. Two days later, Warsaw announced that soldiers were reinforcing border crossings with blast walls, observation posts and additional protective infrastructure.
The Kyiv–Warsaw Train Was Evacuated 15 Minutes Before the Strike
The locomotive was hit near the Yahodyn–Dorohusk crossing during a large Russian drone attack on western Ukraine. Ukrzaliznytsia said its monitoring team detected the jet-powered drone before it reached the train. An evacuation order was issued around 15 minutes before the impact, and passengers and railway staff left the train in time.
The BBC reported that the drone struck the locomotive and that no casualties were reported. The railway company said the train was a passenger service. A Polish government statement published the same day referred instead to a freight consist on a siding, so the official descriptions were not completely consistent. Ukrzaliznytsia's detailed account, however, identifies the locomotive as belonging to a passenger train.
Another drone hit a truck at a nearby petrol station, around 800 metres from Polish territory, according to Reuters. The Dorohusk–Yahodyn crossing was briefly suspended while people were evacuated from vehicles and moved to shelter.
Russia's Defence Ministry said its strikes in western Ukraine were aimed at railway infrastructure used for military cargo from Europe. Ukrainian authorities described the train and border targets as civilian infrastructure.
A Diplomatic Train Had Passed Shortly Before
Several high-profile European and US figures had been travelling through the area minutes before the strike.
Shortly before the attack, a special train carrying former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, other European security officials and advisers had passed through Yahodyn. Ukrzaliznytsia said the diplomatic train had left earlier than originally scheduled because the railway was adjusting timetables in response to the risk of Russian strikes.
A separate train carrying former CIA director David Petraeus was at Yahodyn when the attack took place, according to the Ukrainian railway. Ukrzaliznytsia said it was possible that the diplomatic train had also been an intended target.
Poland Is Reinforcing Dorohusk, Medyka and Korczowa
The strikes did not cross into Poland, but Warsaw has changed security arrangements along the frontier.
On 15 September, Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said the government was strengthening infrastructure used by the Border Guard. Soldiers from the 18th Engineer Regiment have started work near the crossings at Dorohusk, Medyka and Korczowa.
The Polish military is installing collapsible wire-mesh containers that can be filled with sand or gravel and used as blast walls. Observation and guard posts are also being built near the crossings. The changes follow the temporary closure of the Dorohusk crossing during Sunday's attack. Poland's border authorities had to stop traffic, evacuate people from vehicles and move personnel into shelter.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk called an emergency security meeting on 13 September. His office said the strike occurred around 2 km from the border and warned that Russian military activity was moving closer to Polish territory. Poland also said border-crossing operations would require additional precautions.
Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski later said Poland would respond to the latest escalation with measures that were "not provocative, but serious", according to DW.
The Railway Is Becoming Part of the Border-Security Problem
On 16 September, five people were killed and seven injured when a Russian drone struck a passenger bus near Nikopol in southeastern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials cited by Reuters. On the same day, another Russian drone attacked a passenger train in Mykolaiv region. All 168 passengers and crew had been evacuated before the strike.
Another locomotive was hit in Kovel, close to the Polish border. Ukrzaliznytsia told Reuters that Russian forces had attacked 1,700 railway facilities in 2026, including 120 passenger coaches, 304 locomotives and 43 stations.
Ukraine's railway has responded by building its own monitoring procedures around moving trains. Dispatchers track drone threats, trains are stopped when necessary and passengers are evacuated before a possible strike. At Yahodyn, that system worked. The locomotive was destroyed, but the people on board were already away from it.
The problem for Poland is now that railway or road target can remain on Ukrainian territory while the blast, debris or a drone's flight path comes very close to Polish border staff, vehicles and infrastructure, whcih is why the latest Polish measures are concentrated around the crossings themselves.
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Dorohusk Is an Important Rail Link Between Ukraine and the EU
Dorohusk–Yahodyn is part of one of the main transport links between Ukraine and Poland. Passenger trains, freight services, road traffic and aid flows all use the area.
Poland is already preparing to increase railway capacity on the Lublin–Dorohusk corridor. In June, the Polish Centre for EU Transport Projects launched a feasibility study under the EU–Ukraine Solidarity Lanes programme in an attempt to reduce journey times, increase capacity and improve railway interoperability between Poland and Ukraine.
As Poland wants to move more trains and freight through it, it is now also building physical protection around the infrastructure that makes those movements possible.