Tusk chairs emergency meeting, warns strikes could reach Poland
The European Union’s high representative for foreign and security policy, Kaja Kallas, said on Monday that the strike “was clearly a message to the western world.” Speaking on the sidelines of an Arctic conference in Finland, she said: “I think the question for us is what do we take from that message? I think we should act the opposite. We should show that we are there for Ukraine and we are not scared off, because otherwise, you know, Russia will just achieve what they want, which is the submission of Ukraine.”
A spokesperson for Kallas added: “We strongly condemn the latest Russian strikes near the Ukraine-Poland border, including the attack against the passenger train.” The spokesperson referenced a recent EU decision to approve a €6.1 billion tranche of the bloc’s €90 billion loan for Ukraine, saying: “We are acting on the front to equip Ukraine better to defend itself, and we will continue to stand firmly with Ukraine and its right to defend itself against Russian aggression.”
The strike followed a diplomatic train that had passed through the border crossing shortly before the drone hit. Ukrainian Railways, which operates the line, said the train carried several security advisers from European countries as well as Johnson, Petraeus, and the former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt. The train had left ahead of schedule, the railway said, and “could have been the target of the Russian drone.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the goal of the attacks was “to intimidate Europeans, discourage and above all divide them.” European leaders condemned the strikes on Monday.
Overnight attacks across Ukraine involved more than 450 Russian drones and missiles, killing at least six people and injuring more than 40. Ukraine’s air force said it had intercepted 405 drones and four missiles. Western Ukraine, which is typically quieter than Kyiv or the eastern frontline zones, was particularly badly hit.
The strikes prompted air raid warnings in Poland. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk chaired an emergency meeting after the attacks near the border. “The coming weeks and months will be a period of very intensive actions on the Russian side,” Tusk said, adding that Poland “cannot rule out that this escalation will also affect our territory.”
Tusk said Poland had been tipped off by its security services and by intelligence agencies from allied countries that an attack such as this was likely. “We knew that the Russian plan would include an attempt to disrupt, paralyse, and perhaps even destroy Ukrainian border crossings,” he said.
The strikes came as EU diplomats met in Brussels on Monday for last-ditch talks on the rollover of the bloc’s sanctions against more than 2,600 Russian individuals and entities involved in supporting Vladimir Putin’s war. The sanctions are due to expire on Tuesday, but their prolongation is being held up by a dispute about whether to remove an individual from the list.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram on Sunday: “Ukrainians are fighting every day to prevent these strikes from spreading further into Europe, giving their lives and preventing the aggression from expanding.”