Sirens sounded in eastern Poland and military aircraft were scrambled after Russian strikes on Ukraine came as close as four kilometres to the NATO border, Polish and Ukrainian authorities have said.
Poland’s army said no violation of Polish airspace had been recorded and that its military aircraft had completed their operations. Airports in Rzeszow and Lublin also reopened after being temporarily closed.
“A massive attack on the western part of Ukraine very close to the Polish border has just ended,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk told a news conference on Thursday.
“A petrol station was likely hit again and our aircraft were scrambled.”
Lieutenant Colonel Jacek Goryszewski told private broadcaster TVN24 that a drone had crashed or been shot down about 4 kilometres from the Polish border.
A Ukrainian official told Reuters that explosions were heard several kilometres from the border on the Ukrainian side.
On Sunday, a Russian drone hit a passenger train about two kilometres from the Ukraine-Poland border.
Residents of two eastern Polish regions received alerts warning of a risk of aerial attacks and urging them to seek a safe place.
Local media reported that sirens had sounded, while footage from state broadcaster TVP Info showed children being evacuated from a school in the eastern city of Lublin.
