On September 13, Russian forces struck a railway facility in Yahodyn in western Ukraine, just 2 km from the border of Poland, a NATO member state. At the time, former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, and former US CIA Director David Petraeus, who were visiting Ukraine, were using trains to travel to Poland.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that day that it had struck railway infrastructure facilities transporting military supplies from various parts of Europe to Ukraine using air-launched precision-guided weapons and attack drones. It also said it had attacked a military logistics center and a substation in Odesa, as well as a substation in Mykolaiv.
During the airstrike, the locomotive of a passenger train near Yahodyn Station was hit and damaged, causing a fire, but there were no casualties. The diplomatic train carrying former Prime Minister Johnson and former Prime Minister Bildt had already passed Yahodyn and entered Poland just before the attack, and a separate train carrying former Director Petraeus was also not hit.
They were traveling to Poland after attending the “Yalta European Strategy” meeting held in Kyiv, Ukraine. Ukrainian railway authorities raised the possibility that the diplomatic train was Russia’s original target. Ukrainian authorities continuously adjusted train schedules in response to Russian attack threats, and it was also suggested that the diplomatic train may have avoided the attack by departing earlier than scheduled.
Former Prime Minister Johnson denounced Russia’s attack as “random and senseless.” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha claimed that Russia’s attack was directly aimed at the EU and NATO. French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot also characterized the attack as intended to threaten and divide Europeans.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk held an emergency meeting and raised the possibility that Russia might try to paralyze or destroy the border checkpoint between Ukraine and Poland. It was reported that a truck on a road near Yahodyn was also attacked by Russian forces, temporarily halting operations at the Ukraine-Poland border checkpoint.
Recently, concerns have been growing in Europe that Russia might expand its threats beyond Ukraine to Eastern Europe, including the three Baltic states and Moldova. Arson, explosions, and drone sightings occurring in major European countries are also treated as Russia’s doing.
Recently, Poland has been expanding not only its conventional military power but also its participation in NATO’s nuclear deterrence system in response to Russia’s military threat. Polish Deputy Defense Minister Paweł Zalewski said on September 3 that Poland wants to participate in the nuclear weapons delivery program as part of NATO nuclear sharing and has gained the support of NATO member states.
Poland is also strengthening its naval power. In June, it signed a contract worth about $4.7 billion with Sweden’s Saab for three A26 submarines, which use diesel-electric propulsion. Final delivery is scheduled to be completed by 2038.
