THIS is the shocking moment terrified passengers run for their lives during a Russian drone strike said to have been targeting Boris Johnson.
The ex-PM was on a train just one mile from the Polish border when the service behind his was blown up by barbaric Vladimir Putin’s forces.
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The train carrying Johnson, several European diplomats, and an ex-CIA chief had left early amid fears of Russian strikes.
In the chilling clip, a huge blast is seen as plumes of smoke billow from the site of the suspected targeted attack on the former prime minister.
Horrified passengers scream and scramble to safety between carriages during the vicious strike.
Johnson has hit out at the “terroristic” assault on the stationary locomotive at around 5am local time, and questioned Putin’s “warped logic”.
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He said: “There is only one reason why Vladimir Putin is launching his vicious attacks on Ukrainian railways – including the otherwise pointless destruction of a stationary civilian shunting locomotive yesterday, only a mile or so from the Polish border.
“The reason is that after four and a half years of a cruel and unnecessary war, in which he has lost 1.5 million men, the Russian leader is getting absolutely desperate.”
The strike, around a mile from the Poland’s border, came shortly after he and the UK’s most senior security adviser, Jonathan Powell, had passed through the line heading to Warsaw.
Ukraine’s state railway company said Johnson’s train had left Yahodyn station earlier than expected, and it could have been Russia’s target.
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The firm, Ukrzaliznytsia, said: “It is entirely possible that the Russian drone’s intended target was the diplomatic train.”
It added that the service “departed the station earlier than scheduled after train timetables were adjusted in real time because of the constant threat of Russian strikes”.
Former Tory leader Johnson, a staunch ally of Ukraine, shared footage of the damaged locomotive and the railway track.
He said: “I don’t know what warped logic drove Putin to blow up a stationary locomotive on the Polish border this morning.
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“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.
“So far Putin has been responsible for the deaths of 1,700 staff of Ukrzaliznytsia — Ukrainian Railways.
“They and their daily passengers are absolutely heroic.”
He also said the day after the attack that Putin’s forces have been going backwards on the frontline – prompting Moscow to launch more strikes on civilians.
“The Russian leader is never going to take the Fortress Belt of the Donbas, not without sacrificing millions,” he said.
“That is why he has been stepping up his attacks on the railways, sending more and more missiles at passenger trains in what can only be described as terroristic attacks.”
He added: “There have been more attacks on passenger trains in the past six months than in the whole of the preceding four years.”
The ex-PM had been in Kyiv at the Yalta European Strategy summit over the weekend, where officials held talks with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky over a possible peace plan with Russia.
Following the incident, he said it was time for allies to give Ukraine the armaments they need in a bid to speed up their victory over Moscow.
Johnson asked: “When are we going to give them the air defences they need? Why won’t we unfreeze Putin’s cash and give it to Ukraine?
“There is more than €140billion in a Belgian bank account – and about £10billion in London. Britain could show a lead. The Ukrainians are going to win — that much was clear from the last three days in their wonderful country. But we will get this dreadful war over much faster if we all get serious and give them what they need and deserve.”
Johnson’s train was allowed to carry on its journey.
Poland’s foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski described Russia’s increasing attacks on Nato’s doorstep as “an escalation”.
Moscow is also understood to be behind several recent attacks in Europe, including on a warehouse in Britain and an airport in Germany.
He said: “It is precisely to prevent these strikes from spreading further into Europe that Ukrainian men and women fight every day, give their lives, and do not allow the aggression to expand.”
The train which was struck was carrying 206 people from Kyiv to Warsaw.
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An evacuation order was sounded some 15 minutes before the strike from a jet-propelled drone.