Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said last night that the explosion on a section of the railway line used for supplies to Ukraine was an “unprecedented act of sabotage“, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
A Polish security official told the AP that authorities were investigating whether Sunday's blast on the line from Warsaw through southeastern Poland was linked to Russia, Belarus or their puppet structures.
Tusk promised that Poland would catch the criminals, “wherever they are“.
During a visit to the scene of the incident yesterday, the prime minister said he had been on a line that is crucial for the delivery of aid to Ukraine.
Polish authorities said they were confident that an explosive device had detonated on the Warsaw-Lublin section of the line, and later found damage to overhead power lines on the same line. Both incidents were likely sabotage, Polish officials said.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the alliance was in close contact with Polish authorities and was awaiting the results of the investigation.
The West has accused Russia and its proxies of orchestrating dozens of attacks and other incidents in Europe since the invasion of Ukraine three and a half years ago. Western authorities say Moscow's goal is to undermine support for Ukraine, sow fear and divide European communities.
The likelihood that the two incidents on the railway line were carried out "on the orders of foreign services" is high. is “very high”, said Tomasz Szymoniak, the minister responsible for Polish security services.
Investigators working on the two cases of alleged sabotage are checking whether they were deliberate acts by a hostile state, a Polish security official said. “The perpetrators showed a high level of professionalism and specialized training,” he said.
A train driver on the line between the capital Warsaw and the city of Lublin in southeastern Poland reported problems with the tracks at around 7:40 a.m. on Sunday. A subsequent inspection found damage to a section of the tracks near the village of Mika, about 100 kilometers southeast of Warsaw, authorities said.
“We can definitely say that an explosive device was detonated, which damaged the railway infrastructure,“ said Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kerwiński.
It was not clear whether the explosion and damage occurred late Saturday or early Sunday. The train was carrying two passengers and several employees, but no injuries were reported, authorities said.
Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kościńska-Kamiś said on Wednesday that the army planned to inspect 120 kilometers of the Warsaw-Lublin-Hrubieszów line, which connects the capital with Ukraine by rail and road.
Another train traveling on the same line was forced to stop Sunday evening near Puławy, about 50 kilometers from Lublin, after overhead power lines were damaged, Kerwiński said on Wednesday. About 60 meters of the power lines were damaged, he added. Puławy is located between Mika and Lublin on the same railway line that connects Warsaw to the Ukrainian border.
There were 475 passengers on the train at the time of the incident, but there were no reports of injuries, although the damaged power lines broke several windows.