Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Gavin Grey: UK correspondent on Russian drone striking train behind Boris Johnson and other dignitaries near Ukraine border

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Gavin Grey: UK correspondent on Russian drone striking train behind Boris Johnson and other dignitaries near Ukraine border · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Gavin Gray's with us, UK-Europe correspondent. Gavin, always good to talk,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: though not in these circumstances. So you've got a Russian
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: hit on a train near the Ukraine-Polish border.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, Ryan. And it was hit, this stationary train,
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: just a short while after the UK, former UK Prime
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Minister Boris Johnson and top European security officials had passed
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: through that part of the track. Now, no casualties were reported.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: All passengers were evacuated. But Boris Johnson and some of
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Europe's most senior security advisers, including Jonathan Powell, who's a
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: very well-known figure around Europe, they passed along that same
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: line on their way back from a conference in the capital, Kiev. Indeed,
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: on board another train nearby was the CIA chief, former
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: CIA chief, David Petraeus, and also the former Swedish prime minister,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Carl Bildt, all passing along that track when this other
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: train was struck. Now, Boris Johnson hit out afterwards saying,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: I don't know what warped logic drove Putin to blow
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: up a station or a Ukrainian locomotive on the Polish
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: border this morning. When are we going to give them
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: the air defences that they need? Well, others are beginning
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: to wonder, is this what Russia meant when they said
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: UK supplying drone and drone technology was going to lead
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: to a response from Russia? Either way, plenty of people
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: speculating about what the motives were, or was it just
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: sheer coincidence? But the gap in time between the strike
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: and the train passing containing our former prime minister was
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: not very long, apparently.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Too close for comfort. Hey, what about the fact that
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: you've got the Europeans weaning themselves off Russian energy and
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: the energy shortage going to hit this winter?
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. Big, big possibility that Europe will find itself
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: with not enough power to keep everyone warm. Now, I
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: mentioned that the UK National Security Advisor, Jonathan Powell, was
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: on board that train. Well, he had earlier given a
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: fairly explosive interview in which he effectively said that those
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: living in Europe must be ready to endure real hardship
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: this winter. if we're going to keep up the economic
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: pressure on Russia. Very rarely does he give any interviews.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Very rarely are his comments ever reported or made public.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: But he's basically saying that, look, we are going to
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: see Russia continuing to target Ukrainian infrastructure. Europe is facing
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: a severe energy shortage this winter because, of course, Europe
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: is drastically reducing its dependence on Russian oil and gas. Indeed,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: at the moment, they're just taking a set of 12%
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: of gas imports come from Russia. But the plan was
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: to phase them out completely by January. And that is 12%
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: that they're really going to struggle to make up elsewhere,
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: particularly with the Iran war.