Train carrying Boris Johnson and German officials was near Polish border during Russian drone attack

One of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s closest advisers, Günter Sautter, was reportedly traveling on the overnight train from Kyiv.

The special train also carried security advisers from other European governments, members of the German Bundestag, diplomats and researchers. Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was among the passengers as well, the report said.

The special train was stopped after an air raid alert was declared.

Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, who was also traveling from Ukraine to Poland, wrote on X that the train departing a few minutes later had been evacuated. Bildt praised what he described as a “very good safety system” and said his own train received an evacuation warning but was able to continue on to Dorohusk.

Robin Wagener, a lawmaker from Germany’s Green Party, told Der Spiegel: “These drone attacks are blind terror against Ukrainian civilians and a dangerous escalation of Putin’s war.”

“Russia is becoming ever more unscrupulous and is playing with fire directly on the border of the European Union and NATO. We must finally put an end to this terror,” the German lawmaker said.

On Sept. 13, Russian forces attacked a passenger train near the border with Poland in Ukraine’s Volyn Oblast. The train was traveling from Kyiv to Warsaw. No one was injured.

Ukrainian Railways said Russia had been attacking the railway network for a second straight day.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called on partners to respond more quickly and use the full force of sanctions against the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Russian barbarians are at your gate, dear partners,” Sybiha wrote on X.