In an interview with the American TV channel CBS News, cited by RBC-Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke about an incident involving a Russian drone attack on a passenger train in Volyn. According to him, the carriages carried foreign officials who had arrived in Ukraine on a visit — among them, as the head of state emphasized, was former Director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency David Petraeus, as well as representatives of European countries. After the strike, Zelensky said, the foreign representatives had to evacuate near the border with Poland.
Zelensky's Statement on Possible Russian Awareness
Commenting on the circumstances of the strike, Zelensky suggested that the Russian side may have known in advance about the presence of Americans on the train. At the same time, he explicitly noted that he cannot state this with certainty, but personally leans toward this version. "Maybe they didn't know that Americans were there, or maybe they did know, because I don't trust them. I think they knew," Zelensky stated. "That's why, despite the fact that Europeans, Americans and a large delegation were on this train, they still carried out the attack." Importantly, the president did not claim that the presence of Americans was the cause of the strike: the discussion was exclusively about the assumption of whether Russia could have known the passengers' composition in advance.
Course of the September 13 Attack
As noted in the materials, on September 13 Russia struck a railway near the Ukrainian-Polish border. A Russian drone hit the locomotive of a passenger train in Volyn approximately two kilometers from the border with Poland. According to Der Spiegel, shortly before the attack, a train was at Yagodyn station carrying German Chancellor's advisor Günter Sautter, other European diplomats, and former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Contradictory Data
The sources' accounts diverge on a key question — which specific train was at the station at the moment of the strike and who exactly was riding in it. According to Der Spiegel, shortly before the attack, a diplomatic train with Günter Sautter and Boris Johnson was at Yagodyn station. Meanwhile, Ukrzaliznytsia stated that at the time of the actual attack, a different train was at Yagodyn station, carrying former CIA Director David Petraeus. Thus, the same event is described with different passenger compositions and different time references, making it impossible to definitively establish which specific train was hit and which of the listed individuals was aboard at the moment of the strike.
Ukrzaliznytsia's Version of the Strike's Target
Ukrzaliznytsia suggested that the Russian drone may have been aimed specifically at the diplomatic train. According to their data, this train left the station earlier than scheduled due to timetable changes related to the security situation. This version is consistent with Zelensky's words that the attack was carried out despite the presence of a large international delegation on the train, and it reinforces his assumption about the possible awareness of the Russian side regarding the route and composition.
At the time of preparing this material, independent confirmation of the full list of passengers of the hit train and the exact target of the strike is absent: the positions of Zelensky, Der Spiegel, and Ukrzaliznytsia partially overlap but do not match in the details. The fact of the drone attack on a railway train near the Polish border on September 13 is confirmed by several sources, while the passenger composition and the attacker's intentions remain the subject of contradictory statements.
