Boris Johnson has hit back at Vladimir Putin after a Russian drone targeted the railway line he was travelling on.
The former prime minister was alerted at 5am on Sunday as he returned from a security conference in Kyiv and told to prepare for an evacuation after another passenger train behind his was attacked in Volyn, near the Polish border.
In a post on X, Mr Johnson wrote: “I don’t know what warped logic drove Putin to blow up a stationary Ukrainian locomotive on the Polish border this morning.
“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 1700 staff of Ukrzaliznytsia – Ukrainian Railways. They and their daily passengers are absolutely heroic.
“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 €140 billion in a Belgian bank account – and about £10 billion 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.”
It is understood that Mr Johnson was not evacuated or delayed by the incident but an ordinary passenger train was vacated.
Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha condemned Moscow’s “barbaric strikes” on the Ukrainian Polish border on Sunday.
“Russia’s barbaric strikes at the Ukraine-Poland border in Yahodyn are not just a continuation of its attacks on our state borders,” Sybiha said on X.
“This is Putin’s terror “knocking” directly on the doors of the EU and NATO. Russian barbarians are at your gate, dear partners,” he added.
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