Polish authorities on Tuesday accused Russia of orchestrating an explosion on the country’s rail network, contending that two Ukrainian nationals acted at the direction of Russian security services in an operation that nearly sent a crowded commuter train off its tracks.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the blast, along with another attempted act of sabotage over the weekend, represented a serious escalation by Moscow at a moment when European governments say Russia has widened a shadow campaign against vital infrastructure, civilian sites and military facilities across the continent.
“A certain threshold has been crossed,” Tusk warned during an address to parliament, characterizing the events as Poland’s gravest security challenge since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He said the intent behind the acts was nothing short of triggering a disaster on a major rail line.
The allegations come amid a rising sense of unease across Central and Eastern Europe, where a string of suspected Russian drones in recent weeks has halted flights, disrupted airport activity and fueled public anxiety. Several nations now find themselves navigating an ill-defined conflict with Moscow—one conducted not through open confrontation, but through persistent acts that fall just below the threshold of conventional warfare.
Western officials say such incidents reflect a broader Russian strategy aimed at destabilizing NATO member states through actions easily disavowed by the Kremlin. Tusk argued that the weekend’s events fit within that pattern, which he said spans sabotage, arson and even attempts at assassination across Europe. According to him, this campaign has intensified over the past two years as Moscow has sought to hinder the flow of Western weapons to Kyiv.
Tusk added that Poland had increasingly become a proving ground for these activities, citing recent fires at a shopping mall and the flight of several Russian drones into Polish territory—episodes Warsaw has described as attempts to gauge the country’s defenses.
Although the Kremlin has repeatedly rejected accusations of involvement in sabotage or drone incursions, Tusk asserted that the two men responsible for the latest actions had long cooperated with Russian security services and had entered Poland via Belarus in the fall.
One of the suspects, he said, fastened a steel clamp to a section of track near the village of Mika, about 62 miles south of Warsaw. The device was intended to induce a derailment. The other suspect placed a C4-filled explosive on the line. That device was detonated remotely on Saturday night as a train bound for Warsaw passed overhead. Most of the explosive material failed to ignite, Tusk said, resulting in only minor damage to the train’s undercarriage.
A resident, alarmed by the blast, notified police. Officers searched the area after dark but were unable to detect harm to the tracks, according to Tusk.
Only the next morning did authorities confirm damage, after a passenger train traveling between Warsaw and Lublin was forced to halt when the impairment was finally spotted. The line, officials noted, forms a crucial corridor for transporting aid to Ukraine.
[READ MORE: A Mandate for Gaza: U.N. Set to Back Trump’s Peace Plan as Diplomacy Intensifies]
