Ukraine war latest: Poland shoots down Russian drones in its airspace for first time

Poland has closed four of its airports, including the main Chopin Airport in Warsaw, according to the US Federal Aviation Administration.

The Rzeszow–Jasionka Airport in Poland’s southeast, a hub for passenger and arms transfers to Ukraine, was among the airports that had been temporarily closed, the FAA said.

There was no immediate official confirmation from Polish authorities that any airports had been closed.

A Nato nation, Poland has been on high alert for objects entering its airspace since a stray Ukrainian missile struck a southern Polish village in 2022, killing two people, a few months into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

But there have been no reports of Polish or allied defence systems destroying drones.

For the first time since the Ukraine war began, Poland’s authorities have also alerted people to stay indoors.

Polish military command this morning said the operation was ongoing and urged people to stay at home, naming the regions of Podlaskie, Mazowieckie, and Lublin as most at risk.

A Russian airstrike killed 24 elderly people who were collecting pensions in a village in eastern Ukraine, officials said on Tuesday, prompting President Volodymyr Zelensky to urge Kyiv’s allies to increase pressure on Moscow to end its war.

Russian troops have pressed a grinding offensive across much of the eastern Donetsk region as diplomatic efforts to achieve peace in the 3-1/2-year-old war have largely stalled.

Zelensky said a guided bomb had struck the village of Yarova, about 15 miles (24 km) from the city of Sloviansk, a Ukrainian stronghold, and several kilometres behind the front line.

“Directly on people. Ordinary civilians. At the very moment when pensions were being disbursed,” he wrote on X alongside footage showing bodies strewn across the ground.

Twenty-four people were killed and another 19 people were wounded, the State Emergency Service said. All of the dead were elderly, said regional governor Vadym Filashkin.

“The world must not remain silent,” Zelensky said. “The world must not remain idle. A response is needed from the United States. A response is needed from Europe. A response is needed from the G20.”

Poland’s military said it scrambled its own and Nato allied air defences to shoot down Russian drones this morning after they crossed from neighbouring Ukraine.

This is the first time in the Ukraine war that Warsaw has engaged Russian assets in its airspace.

“During today’s attack by the Russian Federation targeting objects on the territory of Ukraine, our airspace was repeatedly violated by drone-type objects,” Poland’s military command said in a statement.

“An operation is underway aimed at identifying and neutralizing these objects… weapons have been used, and service personnel are carrying out actions to locate the downed objects.”

It said the military operation was ongoing and urged people to stay at home, naming the regions of Podlaskie, Mazowieckie, and Lublin as most at risk.

“The Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces is monitoring the situation, and subordinate forces and units remain on full readiness for immediate response,” it added.

Sir Keir Starmer and Nato chief Mark Rutte said more pressure – including through sanctions – must be heaped on Vladimir Putin to engage with peace talks.

It comes as US President Donald Trump has threatened stronger sanctions against Russia after it carried out the largest aerial attack on Ukraine since the war began.

Sir Keir hosted Mr Rutte at Downing Street on Wednesday afternoon, after the Nato Secretary General joined a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG).

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “Turning to Ukraine, the leaders reflected on the situation on the frontline and underscored the need to ensure the country received the right military capabilities to keep them in the fight now.

“The Nato Secretary General updated on his discussions at the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG) earlier today, and both leaders welcomed the efforts by allies to step up support, including through the Coalition of the Willing.

“The military work that had also taken place to integrate US support into the plan for the Coalition of the Willing had progressed well, the leaders agreed.

“However, more pressure, including through sanctions, needed to be applied to Putin to force him to engage meaningfully with peace talks, they added.”

France’s minister for European affairs said on Tuesday that French military support for Ukraine would continue despite political turbulence in Paris, as France awaited the nomination of its fifth prime minister in less than two years.

Benjamin Haddad, who has survived two prime ministers since being named as President Emmanuel Macron’s main interlocutor with European partners a year ago, said his trip to Ukraine on Thursday had been confirmed, whoever was named premier.

“Support for Ukraine is really a transpartisan issue, from the Socialists to the Republicans and the centre,” he told Reuters. “It’s absolutely fundamental for our country’s interest.”

“Our defence budget has been preserved, its increase has been protected over the past few years, and it will continue,” he added. “I’ll be in Ukraine this week, it’s one of the strong messages I will deliver.”

Macron has pledged to provide an extra 2 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine this year.

Haddad declined to speculate on who Macron could name to replace Francois Bayrou, who lost a confidence vote on Monday over how to address a gaping budget deficit.

Government sources said Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu was poised to get the job, signalling continuity.

Poland will close its border with neighbouring Belarus on Thursday at midnight local time to allow Zapad military exercises to take place, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday.

It comes amis rising tensions between Minsk and Warsaw, with the “Zapad-2025” drills raising security alarms in neighbouring NATO member states Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.

“On Friday, Russian-Belarusian maneuvers, very aggressive from a military doctrine perspective, begin in Belarus, very close to the Polish border,” Tusk told a government meeting.

“Therefore, for national security reasons, we will close the border with Belarus, including railway crossings, in connection with the Zapad maneuvers on Thursday at midnight.”

Already strained relations between Poland and Belarus have hit new lows since Minsk’s ally Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

At least 23 people have died following a Russian strike in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.

Among the dead are civilians who were queueing for pensions when they were struck.

“Directly on people. Ordinary civilians. At the very moment when pensions were being disbursed,” Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X, describing the attack on the rural settlement of Yarova as “brutally savage”.