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The former Prime Minister suggested the attack was intended to send a message

Boris Johnson has accused Vladimir Putin of resorting to “terror-style” attacks after the former Prime Minister narrowly escaped a Russian drone strike.

Mr Johnson was travelling by train from Ukraine to Poland when he was woken by guards at 5am on Sunday and told to prepare for an evacuation after another passenger train behind his was attacked by a Russian drone in Volyn, just over a mile from the Polish border.

Speaking on GB News, the former Prime Minister told Andrew Pierce and Miriam Cates: "If he was trying to send a message, I think it was totally pointless. You're looking at a pattern of behaviour by the Russian dictator which is getting more and more hysterical.

"He's attacking Ukrainian infrastructure, he's attacking Ukrainian trains. I think the number of attacks on Ukrainian railways in the last six months has been more than the last four years, you've got to see whatever happened at the weekend in that context.

"This is a guy who is absolutely on the back foot. He is losing record numbers of men and he is resorting to terroristic attacks on the heroic staff on Ukrainian railways, that is what's going on."

Andrew Pierce pointed out to Mr Johnson that should "taking out" an ex-UK Prime Minister would be "quite the coup" for Russia as it ramps up its offensive in Ukraine.

"I don't think that any of us on the train were aware of it at the time", Mr Johnson responded.

"It's a symptom of his crazed attempt to bully the Ukrainian population. You've got to set whatever happened to whatever he may or may not have been trying to do on the Polish border in the context of his absolutely cruel, inhumane treatment of Ukrainian citizens.

"The Ukrainians are doing heroically. They're going to win this war. We've got this new thing now where they are finding it very difficult to keep off Putin's ballistic missiles and also his jet-powered drones. They need patriot-style interceptors to help them."

He continued: "We need to give them the technology they need to defend themselves and the cash they need. This is not UK cash, this is Putin's cash we can unfreeze and give to the Ukrainians.

"We need to show Ukraine we are there for them. What we really need from Western leaders is an emphatic, clear, unambiguous announcement that the destiny of Ukraine is with the West. We have moved away from that. You don't hear from Western governments anymore that Ukraine's future is in Nato, it is in Nato.

"The solution of this problem of Ukraine's destiny is to be clear about where Ukraine is going. We haven't had clarity in the past few years. That's what we need."

The attack took place at Yahodyn railway station in Volyn, near Ukraine’s border with Poland.

Ukrainian rail operator Ukrzaliznytsia said it was “quite possible” the drone had been intended for a train carrying Mr Johnson and other dignitaries, but the service had left the station ahead of schedule.

The former prime minister had been returning from a major security conference in Kyiv with former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt and several European security advisers.

Ukrzaliznytsia said the train had departed earlier than planned because timetables were being adjusted in real time in response to the continuing threat of Russian strikes.

A separate train carrying former CIA director David Petraeus was still at the station when the drone struck. No casualties were reported.

Following the attack, Mr Johnson praised Ukrzaliznytsia staff and passengers as “absolutely heroic” and called for greater military support for Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the attack as “barbaric”, saying it represented “Putin’s terror ‘knocking’ directly on the doors of the EU and Nato”.

The Conservatives described the incident as a “stark escalation” by Moscow and called on the Government to increase defence spending.