Poland deploys planes due to threat of drone strikes in nearby Ukraine | Poland

Polish and allied aircraft have been deployed in a “preventive” operation in Poland’s airspace because of a threat of drone strikes in neighbouring areas of Ukraine, and the airport in the eastern Polish city of Lublin was closed, authorities have said.

The alert on Saturday lasted about two hours. On Wednesday multiple Russian drones had crossed into Poland, prompting Nato to send fighter jets to shoot them down, underlining long-held concerns about the expansion of Russia’s more than three-year war in Ukraine.

The Polish military’s operational command posted on X during the afternoon that ground-based air defence and reconnaissance systems were on high alert.

It stressed “these actions are preventive in nature” and were aimed at securing Poland’s airspace and protecting the country’s citizens. It cited a threat of drone strikes in regions of Ukraine bordering Poland but didn’t give further details.

The prime minister, Donald Tusk, posted that “preventive air operations” had begun in Polish airspace because of the threat posed by Russian drones operating over nearby areas of Ukraine.

The Polish Air Navigation Services Agency said Lublin airport was closed to air traffic “due to military aviation activities” and the government security centre warned of a threat of air attack affecting several border counties in the region.

Later on Saturday, the military’s operational command wrote on X that the operation “has been completed” and that ground-based defence and reconnaissance systems had returned to normal.

Russia has said it didn’t target Poland on Wednesday, and Moscow’s ally, Belarus, said the drones went astray because they were jammed.

But European leaders have expressed certainty that the incursions were a deliberate provocation by Russia.

Polish aircraft have been scrambled repeatedly in recent months to patrol the country’s airspace in connection with Russian airstrikes in Ukraine but those strikes have usually occurred overnight or in the early morning.

Also, on Saturday Romania – which shares a border with Ukraine – said a Russian drone breached its airspace.

Romania’s defence ministry said the breach by a drone came during a Russian attack on infrastructure in neighbouring Ukraine.

After the Nato member scrambled two F-16 fighter jets late on Saturday to monitor the situation, the aircraft “detected a drone in national airspace” and tracked it until “it disappeared from the radar” near the village of Chilia Veche, said a ministry statement.

AFP contributed to this report