Two Russian drone strikes hit near the Polish border early on September 13, Ukrainian authorities have reported, attacks that Kyiv said was Moscow "knocking on the doors of the EU and NATO" and urged further sanctions.
The first strike hit a petrol station near the Yahodyn border crossing between Poland and Ukraine, in the country's Volyn region. The checkpoint was temporarily closed but has since reopened, with no casualties reported in the incident.
The second, also in Volyn, struck the locomotive of a passenger train just two kilometers from the Polish border, Ukrainian Railways reported. According to Oleksandr Shevchenko, a local transportation official, the train was traveling from Kyiv to Warsaw.
As Ukrainian Railways said that a threat-monitoring group was able to warn the train's crew of the attack in advance, no casualties were reported. Video footage spread over Ukrainian social media showed people running from the blast at the railway station.
Air-raid alerts were issued in several eastern districts of Poland around the time of the strikes.
While there were no reports of violations of Polish airspace, Jacek Goryszewski, spokesman for the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces, said the "threat to Poland was real."
In separate incidents on September 13, Romanian authorities reported a drone entering the country, and Lithuania called on residents in the capital and neighboring regions to preventively seek shelter after issuing an alert of possible drone sighting.
The country's main airport in Vilnius was shut down and NATO jets were scrambled. The alert was called off within an hour.
The strikes in Ukraine come as Russia has stepped up its attacks on civilian and logistics infrastructure across the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a total of 2,100 drones, 1,700 gliding bombs, and 73 missiles were launched at targets across Ukraine in the past week.
"Russia's barbaric strikes at the Ukraine-Poland border in Yahodyn are not just a continuation of its attacks on our state borders," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha wrote on X on September 13. "This is Putin's terror 'knocking' directly on the doors of the EU and NATO."
He urged European leaders to "throw the full weight" of sanctions against Russia.
"Make Moscow feel the consequences of its terror. Not just half-decisions, but uncompromising, powerful steps. Full trade embargo. Full entry bans. Full sanctions on the military-industrial complex," he wrote.
Earlier this month, Germany officially blamed an incident on Moscow in which explosive-laden drones interrupted flights at Leipzig Airport. At the time, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that "Europeans are faced with a hard truth that this is the new normal."
"It is precisely to prevent these strikes from spreading further into Europe that Ukrainian men and women fight every single day, laying down their lives to keep this aggression from expanding," Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram on September 13.
"Russian terrorism is a shared threat to many, but it can and must be defeated right here in Ukraine," he added.
According to Ukrainian authorities, the latest Russian attacks on Ukraine had also targeted the country’s western regions of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, and Lviv, as well as the key southern region of Odesa.
Regional authorities in the Odesa region said nine people had been injured after a drone struck several residential buildings. A warehouse in the region was also reportedly targeted.
Rescuers previously completed work at the site of the drone strike on a 25-story residential building in Odesa on the night of September 12. Two people were killed and more than 20 injured in that attack.
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed that its overnight strikes targeted "logistics centers through which military cargo is delivered and distributed, as well as energy facilities that support their operation."
The ministry also reported strikes on railway infrastructure in western Ukraine.
Russia denies targeting civilian areas despite widespread evidence of such attacks that have killed thousands of people since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
