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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
This is a breaking news story and may be updated as more details emerge.
A drone has struck a passenger train travelling between Kyiv and Warsaw, around two kilometres from the Polish border, amid the latest round of mass Russian attacks on Ukraine. In a separate incident, a truck around 800 metres from a border crossing with Poland was also hit.
“This is Putin’s terror ‘knocking’ directly on the doors of the EU and NATO,” wrote Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha. “Russian barbarians are at your gate, dear partners.”
🚨 BREAKING: Russian drone targeted a passenger train on the border with Poland.
"Russian barbarians are at your gate, dear partners. Act now: throw the full weight of your sanctions at Putin’s aggressive regime," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Sybiha wrote in response. pic.twitter.com/VsgQ2UGtPb
— UNITED24 Media (@United24media) September 13, 2026
“Today in the Volyn region, two kilometers from the Polish border, the enemy struck the locomotive of a passenger train,” announced Ukrainian Railways in a statement. “A monitoring group warned the train crew of the threat in advance, ensuring that no one was injured.”
Ukrainian media outlets report that the train in question was a service running between Kyiv and Warsaw. They shared a video purportedly showing the strike, in which passengers are seen fleeing a train as an explosion is seen and heard in the background.
Ukrainian Railways’ deputy director for communications, Oleksandr Shevchenko, was quoted by media outlet Suspilne confirming that the strike had been carried out by a Russian drone.
Meanwhile, Poland’s border guard on Sunday morning confirmed to news website Interia that a drone had struck a truck around 800 metres from the Dorohusk-Jagodzin border crossing between Poland and Ukraine.
Earlier reports and images shared on social media had indicated that a petrol station at that location had been hit, causing a fire.
The spokeswoman for Poland’s interior ministry, Karolina Gałecka, said that no injuries had been reported on the Polish side of the border. The border guard said that traffic at the crossing was proceeding normally.
🚨 BREAKING: Russian drones struck a gas station near the Yahodyn checkpoint on the Polish border, setting off a massive fire that engulfed parked cargo trucks.
Border guards suspended processing and sheltered visitors during the air alert. pic.twitter.com/SSUiXayBYS
— UNITED24 Media (@United24media) September 13, 2026
The interior minister himself, Marcin Kierwiński, condemned the two “Russian terrorist attacks” near the border and declared that “Russia is the enemy of the free world”.
Sybiha, meanwhile, said that the incidents highlighted why the world must take “uncompromising, powerful steps…[to] make Moscow feel the consequences of its terror”.
“Full trade embargo. Full entry bans. Full sanctions on the military-industrial complex,” wrote the Ukrainian foreign minister. “Putin needs to understand that his barbarism will be met with decisive action that increases the cost of war for him to an unacceptable level. This is the only way to stop him.”
Russia’s barbaric strikes at the Ukraine-Poland border in Yahodyn are not just a continuation of its attacks on our state borders.
This is Putin’s terror “knocking” directly on the doors of the EU and NATO. Russian barbarians are at your gate, dear partners.
Act now: throw the…
— Andrii Sybiha 🇺🇦 (@andrii_sybiha) September 13, 2026
On Sunday morning, the operational command of Poland’s armed forces confirmed that it had activated defence and reconnaissance systems in response to Russia’s overnight drone attacks on Ukraine, but that no violations of Polish airspace had been recorded.
Poland’s Government Security Center (RCB) sent alerts overnight to residents in two provinces bordering Ukraine, while alarm sirens also went off in some areas right on the border.
Deputy defence minister Cezary Tomczyk said that the latest incidents emphasise why it is necessary to provide military support to Ukraine. “Every missile destroyed and every drone shot down [in Ukraine] is a threat that doesn’t fly any further,” he wrote.
In July, a Russian missile entered Polish airspace and crashed in the east of the country during a previous round of mass Russian attacks on Ukraine. Last September, around 20 Russian drones crossed into Poland, some of which were shot down by Polish and allied forces.
The object that crashed in the Lublin region on Thursday was a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile carrying a "significant amount" of explosive material.
The missile was "potentially very dangerous,” Poland's defence ministry confirmedhttps://t.co/NoqZwIcaWp
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) July 31, 2026
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Mediapivden/Telegram (screenshot)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
