Poland scrambles jets as Russia launches massive aerial assault on Ukraine

Polish and allied military aircraft were scrambled early Saturday after Russia launched a massive aerial assault on Ukraine including strikes that targeted near its western border with Poland.

It came hours after NATO intercepted three Russian jets over Estonia's airspace and with Europe on heightened alert following a series of Russian airspace violations in eastern countries.

"Due to the activity of the Russian Federation's long-range aviation, which is carrying out strikes on the territory of Ukraine, Polish and allied aviation has begun operating in our airspace," the Polish military posted on X.

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"Duty fighter pairs have been scrambled, and ground-based air defence systems as well as radiolocation reconnaissance have reached a state of maximum readiness," it said.

Russia launched 579 attack drones and various types of dummy drones at Ukraine overnight into Saturday, Kyiv's Air Force said. Moscow also launched eight ballistic missiles and 32 cruise missiles in the attack, it said.

"All night, Ukraine was under a massive attack by Russia," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

UK fighter jets

British fighter jets joined the operation over Poland on Friday night as part of an operation to bolster NATO's eastern flank after Russian drones violated Polish airspace earlier this month, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.

Two Typhoon fighter jets took off from the Royal Air Force base in Lincolnshire to "patrol Polish skies and deter and defend against aerial threats from Russia, including drones," the ministry said in a statement.

The mission was carried out for NATO's Operation Eastern Sentry, an initiative launched last week in light of Russia's breach of Polish airspace. Besides Britain, the operation involves assets from Denmark, France and Germany.

The ministry said Britain's commitment to NATO was "unshakeable" and that the mission on Friday night followed the "reckless and dangerous incursion by Russian drones into Polish sovereign airspace – the most significant violation of NATO airspace by [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin to date since his illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine."

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He added that three people have been killed in the shelling and dozens more injured.

"Every such strike is not a military necessity but a deliberate strategy by Russia to terrorize civilians and destroy our infrastructure," he said. "That is why a strong international response is needed."

Overall, eight people were killed, and at least 32 injured, in Russian attacks over the last 24 hours, according to regional authorities.

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'Brazen' incursion

On Friday, NATO intercepted three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets that violated Estonia's airspace in what Estonia called an "unprecedentedly brazen" incident.

The country's foreign ministry said the jets entered Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland without permission and remained there for a total of 12 minutes. Estonia's military said the jets had their transponders switched off and did not have flight plans, potentially endangering other aircraft.

Italian F-35 fighters that were stationed in Estonia as part of NATO's Eastern Sentry operation, in addition to Swedish and Finnish aircraft, responded to the intrusion, NATO said.

Russia denied its jets had entered Estonian airspace, insisting the flight was carried out "in strict accordance with international rules" and "without violating the borders of other countries."

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Estonia has requested NATO Article 4 consultations following the violation, the mechanism which allows any member to formally bring an issue to the attention to NATO's principal political decision-making body. A meeting is due to take place early next week.

Russian drones violated both Polish and Romanian airspace earlier this month – prompting NATO allies to pledge to beef up defences on the bloc's eastern flank.

Also earlier this month, NATO fighter jets shot down multiple Russian drones that violated Polish airspace during an attack on Ukraine.

The operation marked the first time shots were fired by NATO since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022. The military alliance denounced Moscow's "absolutely dangerous" behaviour.

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The latest attacks come amid a stagnant peace process with Ukraine's allies focusing on securing long-term security guarantees for Kyiv.

Zelensky said he will meet with US President Donald Trump at the UN General Assembly meeting in New York next week, and would assess whether such guarantees are close to being finalized.

Efforts by Trump to organise a joint summit with Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin have so far been unsuccessful.

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