Poland Scrambles Jets To Safeguard Airspace After Russia Attacks Near Border

Polish and allied aircraft were activated early on Wednesday to safeguard Poland’s airspace after Russia launched an air attack on Ukraine’s western regions that border the NATO-member Poland.

“Polish and allied aircraft are operating in our airspace, while ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have been brought to the highest state of readiness,” the operational command of the Polish armed forces said in a post on X.

Earlier, Ukraine’s air force reported that Russian drones had entered NATO-member Poland’s airspace, posing a threat to the city of Zamosc, but the air force has since removed that statement from the Telegram messaging app.

As of 0000 GMT, most of Ukraine, including western regions of Volyn and Lviv, which border Poland, were under air raid alerts for several hours, according to Ukraine’s air force data.

Ukrainian media reported that several Russian drones crossed into Poland’s air space. Reuters could not independently verify the reports, and there was no official confirmation from Poland that Russian drones were in Poland’s airspace overnight.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Jamie Freed and Himani Sarkar)