Boris Johnson slams ‘hysterical’ Vladimir Putin after Russia attacks Ukrainian train after he left stationRussian drone attack may have been targeting a train carrying the former Prime Minister and other dignitaries, says rail operator
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Michael Howie, Senior News Editor|Nicholas Cecil, Chief Reporter @nicholascecil1 minute ago
Boris Johnson slammed as “stupid” a drone attack on a Ukrainian train by Russia shortly after the former Prime Minister passed through a station close to the Polish border.
The drone attack on Yahodyn station in Ukraine may have been aimed at a train carrying dignitaries including the former Prime Minister, the country’s railways operator has said.
The attack hit a train shortly after another carrying the ex-PM had left ahead of schedule.
“Who knows what Putin was doing? What was the point of this stupid thing? Mr Johnson told GB News.
“Maybe it was a coincidence. Maybe he was trying to send some sort of message. If he was trying to send a message, I think it was totally pointless.
“What you’re looking at is a pattern of behaviour by the Russian leader, the Russian dictator, which is basically getting more and more hysterical.”
The moment a Russian drone strike hit the train on the Ukraine-Poland borderSupplied
Mr Johnson said he had been unaware of the train attack incident until he got back to Britain and started getting messages about it.
Condemning the increasing attacks by Putin’s military, he added: “He’s attacking Ukrainian infrastructure. He’s attacking Ukrainian trains.
“I think the number of incidents, the number of attacks on Ukrainian railways in the last six months has been more than in all the last four years, right? And you’ve got to see whatever happened at the weekend in that context.
“This is a guy who is absolutely on the back foot. He’s losing record numbers of men on the on the front, and he’s resorting to terroristic attacks on the heroic staff and passengers of Ukrainian railways.”
Mr Johnson had been returning from a major conference in Kyiv along with former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt and a number of European security advisers.
According to a translation from Ukrainian, rail operator Ukrzaliznytsia said in a post on Telegram it was “quite possible” that the drone had been aimed at Mr Johnson’s train.
The company said the train “had departed the station earlier than scheduled due to real-time adjustments to train timetables necessitated by the constant threat of Russian strikes”.
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It added that former CIA director David Petraeus had been on a different train that was still at the station when the drone struck. No casualties have been reported.
The aftermath of the Russian drone attackPoliticsUK
Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha described the attack as “barbaric” and said they represented “Putin’s terror ‘knocking’ directly on the doors of the EU and Nato”.
The Conservatives described the incident as a “stark escalation” by Moscow and urged the UK Government to increase defence spending.
Stuart Anderson, who was appointed shadow minister for war preparedness on Sunday, said: “It is yet another reminder that Russian aggression is a real and growing threat to European security and, ultimately, our own national security.”
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said: “The strikes on Ukraine, including on the gas works near Nato’s border, serve as a stark reminder of the bombardment that Ukrainians face every day.
“Reckless, dangerous attacks on civilian infrastructure so close to Poland also underline the wider security threat Russia poses.
“The UK continues to stand firm with Ukraine and will continue working with allies and partners to bolster European security.”
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