Representative photo (AP)
Nato member Poland said it scrambled fighter jets early on Sunday to protect its airspace after Russia carried out airstrikes on Ukraine.Ukrainian officials said missiles and drones hit the Lviv region near the Polish border.”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,” Poland’s operational command posted on X.
Ukraine was placed under air raid alerts for several hours overnight, as the country’s air force issued its most urgent warnings of missile and drone attacks targeting the Lviv region.Andriy Sadovyi, the mayor of Lviv, a western Ukrainian city located about 70 kilometers from the Polish border, said the city’s air defence systems were “heavily engaged” in repelling first a drone strike, followed by a Russian missile attack.As of 7.30 am (0430 GMT), parts of the city remained without power, and public transport services had not yet resumed. Sadovyi wrote on the Telegram messaging app that it was “dangerous to go out into the streets,” as reported by news agency Reuters.A late-night attack on Saturday struck the city of Zaporizhzhia, the capital of the embattled Zaporizhzhia region, killing one person and injuring nine others, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram. “Apartment blocks and private houses were damaged, cars burned. Windows were blown out, yards wrecked,” Fedorov said.He added that over 73,000 customers in the southeastern region were left without electricity.About 55 km (35 miles) southwest of the city of Zaporizhzhia, the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has been without external power since September 23.In late September, Poland temporarily closed a section of its airspace southeast of Warsaw after Russia carried out a large-scale strike across Ukraine.Earlier that month, Polish and Nato forces intercepted Russian drones that violated Poland’s airspace, their first direct military engagement with Moscow since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.Airports in Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Poland have recently suspended flights following sightings of unidentified drones. Meanwhile, Romania and Estonia have accused Russia of being behind the incidents, claims that Moscow has denied.
