Rutte: train attack shows how ‘desperate’ Putin has become

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has condemned the Russian drone strike on a passenger train near Ukraine’s border with Poland, saying the attack showed how “desperate” Russian President Vladimir Putin had become.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Slovenia’s prime minister, Rutte said the attack would not weaken Western support for Ukraine.

“Yesterday’s attack on a passenger train in Ukraine shows how desperate Putin is. He thinks he can prevent us from supporting Ukraine and undermine our unity. He is wrong,” Rutte said.

“Our response is to increase support for Ukraine so that it has the resources it needs to defend itself. At the same time, our commitment to NATO’s collective defence is unwavering. We will always do whatever is necessary to defend every inch of Allied territory,” he added.

The Russian drone struck the locomotive of a Kyiv-Warsaw passenger train on September 13, around two kilometres from the Polish border. No casualties were reported.

Ukrainian Railways said the attack may have targeted a separate train carrying European officials and politicians returning from the Yalta European Strategy (YES) conference in Kyiv. That train had passed through the area shortly before the strike.