Nato scrambled fighter jets early on Wednesday as Russia launched a massive attack on Ukraine with drones and missiles.
“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.
Four airports in Poland, including the country’s largest Chopin Airport in Warsaw, were closed due to “unplanned military activity related to ensuring state security,” according to notices posted to the US Federal Aviation Administration’s website.
The barrage appeared to target several Ukrainian regions including areas close to the Polish border.
In addition to Chopin Airport, the other three closed airports were the Rzeszów–Jasionka Airport, the Warsaw Modlin Airport, and the Lublin airport, the FAA notices showed.
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, Reuters reported.
As of 0100 BST, 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. The BBC could not independently verify the reports, and there was no official confirmation from Poland that Russian drones were in Poland’s airspace overnight.
