Nato and Poland scrambled military aircraft on Thursday after a missile landed about 55 miles into Polish territory during a Russian attack on Ukraine.
The missile left a massive crater in the middle of a field, local authorities said, with Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte branding it “yet another reckless act by Russia”.
At least ten people were killed in Russia’s strikes on Ukraine, including children, and more than 50 were injured.
Rescuers search through the rubble at a home in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, following Russian air attack. Credit: Ukrainian Emergency Service/ AP
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the incident was “very serious”, but there are “absolutely no reasons to believe that Poland was the target.”
This is not the first time Poland has reported a “Russian-made” missile landing on its soil – but this one reached unusually far.
In November 2022, one struck and killed two people, but that incident was only 4 miles (6.4 kilometres) from the Ukrainian border.
There are fears the incident could deepen tensions between Nato and Moscow.
Tusk said last year that the incursion of Russian drones into airspace brings “us all closer to open conflict, closer than ever since World War II.”
One core principle of the Nato alliance, of which Poland is a member, and Ukraine is not, is Article 5, which enshrines the principle of collective defence.
In short, this means an attack against one ally is considered an attack against all allies, although Poland would have to request the triggering of Article 5 after concluding Russia attacked it deliberately.
A man watches as rescuers search the rubble of a damaged apartment building hit in a Russian strike in Lviv, Ukraine. Credit: AP
Russia’s attack hit areas of Ukraine where weapons are believed to be stored and manufactured.
Ukraine has previously targeted Russia’s oil sector in drone and missile strikes, causing a fuel crisis.
Two Nato fighter jets, a NATO refuelling aircraft, a Polish early-warning aircraft and a Polish helicopter were deployed to counter the missile, a spokesperson for the alliance told CNN.
According to his office on X, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told an emergency government meeting that they were “prepared to shoot down the missile if it had continued its flight”.
He said: “All indications suggest that it was a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile.”
In a statement to CNN, General Alexus G. Grynkewich, Commander for Europe, said they will take “all necessary measures” to defend Nato territory.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said ten Ukrainian regions were attacked after Russia launched more than 70 missiles and over 280 attack drones, of which more than 260 were intercepted.
The president said Kyiv and the surrounding region, along with the Dnipro, Lviv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Vinnytsia, Cherkasy and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, were attacked overnight, with dozens of homes, businesses and infrastructure facilities destroyed or damaged.
On social media, Zelenskyy said: “Given the critical shortage of air defence missiles from our partners, our warriors are accomplishing truly incredible things, demonstrating a very high level of professionalism.”
“This Russian terror once again proves that protection against the Russian missile threat is the most important task when it comes to saving the lives of our people,” Zelenskyy added.
Russia has increasingly targeted built up areas. Credit: AP
Russia’s strikes have intensified over the summer, with attacks on Ukraine now occurring on a nearly weekly basis.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian forces carried out a mass attack that killed six people and injured ten, said Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the regional military administration.
A six-year-old girl and two boys aged 11 and 17 were killed in the attacks in the Kryvyi Rih area.
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Posting on X, Zelenskyy said the parents of the children were killed as well in the same attack, and that two more children were pulled alive from under the rubble.
“It was an ordinary home, blown into smithereens by a ballistic missile,” he said.
In the Poltava region, next to the Dnipropetrovsk region in the west, a drone strike hit warehouses, killing one person, regional head Vitalii Diakivnych said.
More than 20 residential buildings were damaged, along with a school and two kindergartens in Lviv, with children among the injured, including one who was hospitalised.
Russian forces struck the capital Kyiv with ballistic missiles, killing a 31-year-old man and injuring two others, the National Police press service said.
Kyiv locals observe a missile crater after a Russian missile attack. Credit: AP
In the Kyiv region, five people were injured in the Brovary district, including a minor and two women, acting regional administration head Ruslan Oliinyk said on Facebook.
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Moscow’s Defence Ministry confirmed Russian armed forces launched overnight strikes, targeting air bases, arms factories and military telecommunications and logistics facilities in Ukraine.
It said the military also hit a ship in the Pivdennyi port and two ships east and south of Odesa, and their air defences downed 258 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Penza Governor Oleg Melnichenko said a depot belonging to the Wildberries online retailer was set ablaze. He said one person was injured and 200 workers were evacuated.
Ukrainian drones have destroyed four more Russian “shadow fleet” vessels, bringing the total to 205 since the operation began on July 6, Robert “Madyar” Brovdi, commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces, said on Telegram.
Russia’s recent attack on Ukraine comes two days after Zelenskyy met with US President Trump and American defence companies to plead for quicker and bigger air defence deliveries to stop Russia’s ballistic missiles.
Stocks of US-made interceptors have dwindled due to the Iran war, but Trump has promised to grant Ukraine licenses to build its own Patriot missiles; however, production could take months.
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