Poland scrambles fighter jets amid massive Russian airstrikes in neighboring Ukraine

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) – Russia carried out massive airstrikes in multiple Ukrainian regions, including the capital Kyiv, overnight and Sunday morning, causing significant damage to energy infrastructure and prompting neighboring Poland's air force to flay fighter jets aimed at securing its airspace.

Poland's Armed Forces Operational Command said in a statement on X that fighter jets were scrambled in response to Russian airstrikes in Ukraine. It later reported that the fighter jets returned to their base after the end of the airstrikes.

The statement by Polish authorities came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced a "massive combined attack" across the country in the morning and overnight.

Russia used "various types of drones, including Shaheds, as well as cruise, ballistic, and aeroballistic missiles—Zircons, Iskanders, and Kinzhals,” Zelenskyy said on X.

Russia launched about 120 missiles and 90 drones overnight, Zelenskyy said, adding that Ukraine's air defenses destroyed over 140 of them, all aimed at the country's energy infrastructure.

Zelenskyy acknowledged that some facilities have been damaged by direct hits and falling debris, and that some areas are still without power. However, concerned departments are working to handle the situation.

Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said on Telegram that an attack of this magnitude occurred in the city almost three months ago, with air alerts sounding twice and lasting nearly five hours in total.

Popko said air defenses detected and destroyed several various types of missiles, potentially including a Zircon hypersonic cruise missile, as well as up to a dozen drones.

A five-story residential building was damaged in the city’s Pecherskyi district, while debris fell on open land and non-residential properties in the Holosiivskyi and Dniprovskyi districts, he added.

Local authorities in multiple regions, including Odesa, Mykolaiv, Lviv, Zaporizhzhia, Vinnytsia, and Dnipropetrovsk, have reported damage to critical infrastructure.

Ukrainian energy holding DTEK said in a statement on Telegram that thermal power plants were targeted in the Russian attack, causing “serious damage.” The statement did not specify the facility targeted by the Russian Air Force.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that it launched morning airstrikes on "critical energy infrastructure facilities that supported the operation of Ukraine's military-industrial complex and enterprises producing military products."