Poland’s prime minister calls weekend rail line explosion near Warsaw act of ‘sabotage’

Meanwhile, Poland’s defence chief Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said that the army would examine 120 kilometres of the Warsaw-Lublin-Hrubieszów line, which links the capital to Ukraine by rail and road.

A railway line linking Warsaw to southeastern Poland was damaged by a weekend explosion that Prime Minister Donald Tusk called an “unprecedented act of sabotage”.

Tusk, who visited the site on Monday, said the line is “crucially important for delivering aid to Ukraine.”

“Unfortunately, the worst fears have been confirmed,” the Polish leader said in a statement Monday.

“An act of sabotage has occurred on the Warsaw-Lublin route. An explosion has destroyed the railway track.”

A train driver on the line between the capital Warsaw and Lublin reported track irregularities around 7:40 am on Sunday.

Further inspections determined there was damage to a section of track near the village of Mika, about 100 kilometres southeast of Warsaw, officials said.

It was not immediately clear whether the explosion and damage occurred late on Saturday or early on Sunday.

Two passengers and several staff members were on the train but no injuries were reported, officials said.

Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Monday that the army plans to examine 120 kilometres of the Warsaw-Lublin-Hrubieszów line, which links the capital to Ukraine by rail and road.

The Polish army’s Chief of the General Staff, General Wiesław Kukuła, said the incident had been deliberate but did not say who he thought was responsible.

“The adversary has started preparations for war. They are building a certain environment here to bring about an undermining of public confidence in the government, bodies such as the armed forces and the police,” he said in remarks to Polskie Radio.

General Kukuła said the unnamed enemy is creating “conditions that are convenient for the potential conduct of aggression on Polish territory.”

“This is a serious situation and therefore requires special monitoring and reliable communication by all parties involved in its clarification,” the National Security Bureau (BBN) said in a statement.

In a post on X, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned that “threats to our security are real and growing.”

“Europe must urgently boost capacity to protect our skies and our infrastructure,” she said.

A second train was damaged separately on Sunday and that is under investigation, Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said.

A train on the Świnoujście to Rzeszów route was forced to stop on Sunday night about 50 kilometres from Lublin after the overhead electrical cables that powered the train were damaged, Kierwiński said in a statement on Monday.

There were 475 passengers on board but no injuries were reported.

Authorities in Poland have detained dozens of people over suspected sabotage and espionage since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022./Euronews/