Russia strikes Ukraine, prompting Poland to scramble its aircraft

 

Following Russian airstrikes against western Ukraine close to the Polish border, Polish and ally aircraft were sent into action early on Saturday to protect Polish airspace, according to the NATO member nation's armed forces.

Eastern-flank After three Russian military jets breached NATO Estonia's airspace for 12 minutes on Friday and Poland shot down suspected Russian drones in its airspace earlier this month, NATO countries are on high alert.

The operations command stated in a post on X that "Polish and allied aircraft are operating in our airspace, while ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems have been brought to the highest state of readiness."

After the Ukrainian Air Force warned of Russian missile and drone attacks, almost the entire country of Ukraine was placed on air raid alert around 0340 GMT. Russian airstrikes against Ukraine had stopped, according to Polish operational leadership, and Polish and NATO air forces terminated the preemptive operation shortly after 0500 GMT.

According to PAP newswire, a Polish prosecutor stated separately on Saturday that officials had most likely located the final of two dozen drones that had entered Polish airspace ten days prior, resting in a field in the northeastern Polish town of Korsze.

"At this point, we believe it is the last of the drones being searched for that entered Polish territory on the night of September 9-10." The district prosecutor of Olsztyn's spokesperson, Dariusz Brodowski, informed PAP.