Poland, Ukraine slam Russian strikes near border

KYIV, September 15 ------ Poland and Ukraine denounced Russian strikes close to the Polish border that hit a Warsaw-bound train near a frontier checkpoint just after another train carrying several EU officials and British ex-PM Boris Johnson passed through.

Ukraine's rail operator said Johnson and former US CIA director David Petraeus, who were in Kyiv for the annual Yalta European Strategy forum, had been traveling on two separate trains around the time the Warsaw-bound locomotive was hit.

Petraeus told the New York Times in a telephone interview on Sunday that he could hear Russian drones above followed by an explosion -- prompting passengers to be quickly evacuated. "For those who have not been under fire, this was terrifying... This is the act of a truly barbaric leader trying to terrorize Ukrainian civilians," he added.

Johnson, who was traveling with several EU officials in a separate train, condemned the attack in a post on X. "I don't know what warped logic drove Putin to blow up a stationary Ukrainian locomotive on the Polish border this morning," he said. "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."

Poland and Ukraine said a Kyiv-Warsaw passenger train was struck just two kilometers from the Polish border but reported no casualties. "A diplomatic train was at Yagodyn station... among others, security advisers from several EU member states and former European leaders (were) on board, including former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson," the operator said. "In another train that was at Yagodyn station at the very moment of the attack was former CIA Director David Petraeus."

Source: manilatimes.net