Fighter jets from NATO nations Poland and Sweden responded to heavy Russian aerial attacks on Ukraine overnight, Warsaw’s military said on Thursday, as Ukrainian officials said at least 13 people had been killed in the country’s capital.
Poland has frequently scrambled jets to react to waves of Russian aerial attacks on its neighbor throughout the more than three and a half years of full-scale war. Sweden, NATO’s newest member, currently has fighter jets stationed in northern Poland for its turn of the alliance’s air policing mission.
“These actions are of a preventive nature and are aimed at securing the airspace and protecting citizens, especially in areas adjacent to the threatened region,” the Polish operational command said. Warsaw’s ground-based air defense systems and radar equipment were on “maximum readiness,” Poland said.
Ukraine’s air force said on Thursday Russia had launched nearly 600 drones, two Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, 20 cruise missiles and another nine ballistic missiles — including the North Korean-made KN-23 — from 7:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday. Ukraine’s air defenses shot down 563 drones, one of the Kinzhal missiles, seven ballistic weapons and 18 cruise missiles, the air force said.
Ukraine’s state emergency service said 12 people had been killed in a strike on a residential building in the southeast of Kyiv, and one other had died to the west of the city center, bringing the total number of people killed to 13. Three of the victims were children, Timur Tkachenko, the head of the city’s military administration, said in a post to messaging app Telegram. Another 48 people were injured, the official said.
Natalia Zabolotna, an official in Ukraine’s western Vinnytsia region said Russia had attacked critical infrastructure overnight, damaging residential buildings and striking energy facilities. There was no information about casualties, Zabolotna said.
The “shock wave” from Russian strikes “severely damaged” the European Union‘s delegation building in Kyiv, the EU‘s ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Mathernova, said in a post to X.
“During the night strike, Russia also targeted diplomats—in direct breach of the Vienna convention,” Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said in his own statement. “This requires not only the EU’s, but worldwide condemnation.”
This is a breaking story. Updates to follow.
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