Poland suspects ‘foreign intelligence services’ for rail sabotage

WARSAW - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Nov 17 that an explosion which damaged a railway line helping to supply close ally Ukraine was an “unprecedented act of sabotage”.

The damage, which authorities have said was discovered on Nov 16, directly targeted “the security of the Polish state and its civilians”, Mr Tusk wrote in a post on X.

Poland’s National Prosecutor’s Office said it had launched a probe into what it described as “sabotage of a terrorist nature” that it alleged was committed “on behalf of a foreign intelligence service”.

AFP journalists at the scene of the incident in Mika, some 100km south-east of Warsaw, found that the tracks were already being repaired.

The area was cordoned off and being guarded by police and railway security guards.

Poland – a Nato and EU member – has become the main hub for transporting military and humanitarian support to neighbouring Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale military invasion in February 2022.

Warsaw blames Moscow for what it says are multiple incidents of sabotage since then, including drone incursions and arson attacks, which the Kremlin has angrily denied.

In recent years Poland has restricted the movements of Russian diplomats on its soil, ordered the closure of two Russian consulates, and detained a total of 55 individuals suspected of acting on behalf of Moscow.

Ukrainian solidarity

Mr Tusk visited Mika on Nov 17 and called the rail route, which is used daily by dozens of trains, “critically important”, including for delivering aid.

The damage to the track “was likely intended to derail a train”, he said, but the danger was averted as a driver spotted the damage.

No one was injured.

Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said the explosion was triggered via a cable, a fragment of which was found at the scene.

“We will catch the perpetrators, whoever they are,” said Mr Tusk in his X post.

He later said the country’s national security committee, including military commanders and a representative from the presidency, would meet Nov 18.

Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte stated on Nov 17 in Brussels that the alliance remains “in close contact with Polish authorities”.

“The threats to our security are real and growing,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on X in response to Mr Tusk’s post, calling on Europe to “urgently boost capacity to protect our skies and our infrastructure”.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga expressed his “solidarity with friendly Poland” and promised Ukrainian assistance in the ongoing investigation “if called upon”.

He suggested the incident could be “another hybrid attack by Russia – to test responses”.

The interior minister also mentioned two other incidents reported on the same railway line, which are also being investigated.

According to Mr Kierwinski, several dozen metres of rail line was damaged near the city of Pulawy, causing a train to stop; and a few hundred meters further, an obstruction was placed on one of the rails.

No accidents were caused in those incidents. AFP