Putin crony’s thinly-veiled threat against Western politicians using trains days before strike ‘targeting Boris Johnson’

VLADIMIR Putin’s cronies issued sinister threats against Western politicians days before a train attack allegedly targeted Boris Johnson. The ex-PM was on a train just one mile from the Polish border when the service behind his was blown up by Russian forces. Rail chiefs fear that Boris Johnson’s train may have actually been Putin’s target Credit: Two Rivers Media / Soho Studios Firefighters spraying water at a train carriage damaged by a drone strike near the border with Poland Credit: AFP Just days earlier, Putin’s Security Council deputy Dmitry Medvedev marked up Kyiv trains carrying prominent Western figures in a thinly veiled threat. He branded European leaders as “terrorist sponsors” for their support of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and vowed “retribution”. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! The Telegram post read: “Regarding the threats made by the mad clown [Zelensky] concerning civilian aviation in Russian airspace: The head of state [Putin] has already identified these as a declaration by the Banderite [Ukrainian] regime of state terrorism. “Terrorists are not engaged in dialogue….and their actions are met with reciprocal retribution. Horror footage showed passengers scrambling to safety during the attack Credit: X “And every act of terror has its sponsors. Currently, these are the leaders of Western countries, primarily European ones. “And they often travel to Kyiv by train…” The train carrying Johnson, several European diplomats, and an ex-CIA chief had left early amid fears of Russian strikes. Ukraine’s railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia said in a post on Telegram it was “quite possible” that the drone had been aimed at Mr Johnson’s train. Most read in The Sun The company said the train “had departed the station earlier than scheduled due to real-time adjustments to train timetables necessitated by the constant threat of Russian strikes”. In a sickening statement after the attack, pro-Putin war fanatic and Russian MP Alexei Chepa said “it might even have been for the better” if the Johnson train had been hit. Chepa said: “I think that if something had happened, perhaps it might even have been for the better.” Johnson condemned the “random and senseless” attack and blasted Putin’s “warped logic”. He said on X: “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 1,700 staff of Ukrzaliznytsia – Ukrainian Railways. They and their daily passengers are absolutely heroic.” No casualties were reported after the strike at Yahodyn, which hit the train’s engine. All the passengers had been evacuated, Ukrainian authorities said. Former CIA chief David Petraeus, who had been on board another train at Yahodyn station at the time of the strike, said the incident was “terrifying”. Both Ukrainian and Polish authorities said the Russian drone had struck 2km (1.2 miles) from the Polish border. In Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk held an emergency meeting to discuss the latest developments. “The escalation of the actions from the Russian side is becoming a reality, and they are getting closer and closer to our border”, he said. Comment now