Poland scrambled fighter jets during overnight Russian attacks on western Ukraine close to the Polish border, the country’s armed forces said on Friday. The military said no violation of Polish airspace was recorded.
The attacks hit Ukraine’s Volyn region, where regional governor Roman Romaniuk said damage to the power system left about 370,000 people without electricity and injured two. In Kharkiv, a drone attack killed three people and injured five, according to the regional governor. Strikes on an apartment building in Uman also injured five people, police said.
Poland’s response was a precaution as Russian attacks approached its territory. Countries on NATO’s eastern flank have repeatedly monitored incursions and threats near their borders, raising concern about the risk of the war spreading beyond Ukraine.
The latest alert ended without a reported breach of Polish airspace, but the strikes again exposed the pressure that attacks on Ukraine’s western regions can place on neighbouring states and their air defences.
