Russian strike on Yahodyn checkpoint aimed to kill or wound European officials – ISW

The Institute for the Study of War assessed that a Russian drone strike on the Yahodyn-Dorohusk checkpoint, which hit a passenger train locomotive and a gas station in Volyn Oblast, was intended to kill or wound European officials leaving Ukraine. Russia's Defense Ministry claimed the strike targeted railway infrastructure moving military cargo, a claim ISW noted does not fit a passenger train departing Ukraine.

Boris Johnson and a close adviser to Chancellor Friedrich Merz were reportedly on a train that had crossed the border 90 minutes before the strike, while former CIA Director David Petraeus was at the station on a different train when the attack occurred. No casualties were reported.

ISW says the strike fits a pattern of Russia targeting border crossings and escalating drone incursions into NATO airspace to pressure the alliance into abandoning support for Ukraine, and is urging NATO to intercept threats before they cross into European skies rather than after.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.