Poland says Russia-linked Ukrainians behind rail sabotage

2 weeks ago 4

By Agnieszka Barteczko and Piotr Bujnicki

November 19, 2025 — 5.52am

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said two Ukrainians working for Russian intelligence were responsible for an explosion that damaged a key rail link for shipments and travel to Kyiv over the weekend.

Speaking in the Polish parliament on Tuesday, Tusk called the incident “probably the most serious” act of sabotage in the country since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk (second right) inspects the rail line at Mika that was damaged by sabotage.

“A certain line has been crossed,” the prime minister told politicians in Warsaw. “We are dealing with an act of sabotage, which could have resulted in a serious disaster with casualties.”

The two suspects left Poland for Belarus after the attempt to derail trains, Tusk said. Poland will ask authorities in Belarus and Russia for help in securing their return.

Concerns about Moscow’s hybrid war are running high in Poland, a front-line member state of NATO and the European Union that’s emerged as the key transit hub for crucial shipments to Ukraine. A swarm of drones that crossed into Poland in September drew a sharp response from allies about the Kremlin’s activities.

The European Union’s top diplomat said that Moscow’s aggression against the bloc, including the latest incidents in Poland, should be considered terrorism.

“These sabotage acts they are organising on our territories in different countries are extremely, extremely serious,” Kaja Kallas, the high representative for foreign affairs at the European Commission, said at a Bloomberg event on Tuesday.

Speaking before Tusk’s remarks, Jacek Dobrzynski, a spokesman for Poland’s secret services co-ordinator, signalled that the blame lay with the Kremlin.

“Those who ordered this – and everything indicates these are Russian secret services – would very much like to know which direction the investigation is being taken,” Dobrzynski told reporters in Warsaw on Tuesday. He referred to a probe undertaken by the police and Polish counter-intelligence.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the accusation. “It would be very strange if Russia were not the first to be blamed,” he said, adding that “Russophobia is flourishing” in Poland.

Military-grade explosive

Tusk said on Monday that a military-grade C4 explosive device was detonated on 15 November at about 9pm near the village of Mika, about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the capital.

Damage was also discovered along the same rail route, which is a crucial link connecting Warsaw and the Ukrainian border crossing at Dorohusk, that has been used daily to carry passengers and Western aid to Kyiv since Russia’s full-scale invasion began.

President Donald Tusk has ordered increased security measures along certain rail routes.

The explosion, which happened as a freight train was passing, caused minor damage to a wagon floor. It was captured on CCTV. Tusk said the train driver did not even notice the incident.

A previous attempt to derail a train by placing a steel clamp on the rail had failed, he added.

In the second incident, on Monday, a train with 475 people on board was forced to perform emergency braking due to damaged railway infrastructure, Tusk said.

The prime minister said he would issue an order to raise the alert level on certain railway lines.

One of the suspects was convicted in May for sabotage by a court in Lviv, while the other was a resident of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, Tusk told parliament. They both arrived in Poland from Belarus in the Autumn, he said.

Donald Tusk visits the scene where a passenger train was forced to come to an emergency stop.

NATO is in close contact with Polish authorities and will await the outcome of the investigation, Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Monday. Since the invasion of Ukraine, the alliance has been grappling with an onslaught of cyberattacks, signal jamming, sabotage and misinformation campaigns attributed to Russia.

The drone incursion in September prompted the unprecedented decision to deploy fighter jets to shoot down the unmanned aerial vehicles, which appeared during a massive Russian air strike on Ukraine.

Dobrzynski said investigators are securing evidence and collecting information about the incident.