NATO member Poland scrambled fighter jets for the second time in three days on Thursday morning amid intense Russian drone attacks on Ukraine. The Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces said NATO aircraft were deployed in Polish airspace in the early hours as Russian drones were "carrying out strikes against targets in western Ukraine". Poland borders Ukraine to the west and forms part of NATO's eastern flank.
Air-defence systems on alert
Ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems were also placed on alert as part of standard procedures. The move came after Poland deployed fighter jets and placed its air-defence systems on a heightened state of readiness in the early hours of Tuesday following similar Russian strikes.
During the latest incident, Poland's Government Security Centre issued two alerts. The first was sent to residents of Lubelskie and Podkarpackie provinces, while the second was sent to residents of Lublin and Subcarpathian provinces. On Tuesday, alerts were sent only to Lublin and Subcarpathian residents.
Preventive measures
The operational command said in a post on X on Thursday that "selected forces and assets of the Polish Air Defence System were placed on a heightened state of readiness for a short period". It added: "The measures were preventive in nature and were aimed at ensuring the security of Polish airspace, particularly in areas adjacent to those affected by Russian strikes."
In a subsequent post, the command said fighter jets were continuing to operate in response to "further potential threats to the security of Polish airspace" posed by Russian drones in western Ukraine. Ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems remained at an appropriate state of readiness, it added. The operation lasted about two hours. No incursions into Polish or wider NATO airspace were recorded during both incidents.
Casualties and strikes in Ukraine
The latest Russian strikes killed four people and injured 19 others in the Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv, regional governor Heorhii Reshetilov said on Telegram. Separate drone attacks in the northern Sumy region killed five people and injured 24 others, Ukraine's national police said.
The Ukrainian Air Force said its air-defence systems shot down 128 of the 149 Russian drones launched overnight. Hits were recorded at 13 locations. Ukraine's Special Operations Forces said they had struck two Russian gas facilities - the Novy Urengoy and Purovsky plants - in Siberia's Yamalo-Nenets region on Wednesday. The facilities are more than 3,000 kilometres from Ukraine. Kyiv described the operation as the deepest strike inside Russia since the full-scale war began in February 2022.
