Poland activates aircraft amid Ukraine air raid alerts

Polish and allied aircraft have been scrambled after the Ukrainian Air Force warned on social media that Russian drones had entered Polish airspace. The air force later deleted the message.

Poland said its aircraft were operating to protect its airspace while Russia conducted an air attack on nearby western Ukraine.

Four airports in Poland, including the country’s largest, Chopin Airport in Warsaw, were closed on Tuesday night (Wednesday AEST) due to “unplanned military activity related to ensuring state security”, according to notices posted to the US Federal Aviation Administration’s website.

Rzeszow–Jasionka Airport, Warsaw Modlin Airport and Lublin Airport are also shut, the FAA notices showed.

“Polish and allied aircraft are operating in our airspace, while ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have been brought to the highest state of readiness,” Poland’s operational command said in a post on X.

Earlier, the Ukrainian Air Force said on the Telegram messaging app that drones were heading west and threatening the city of Zamosc in NATO-member Poland, but it has since removed that statement from the Telegram messaging app.

Ukrainian media reported that several Russian drones had crossed into Poland’s airspace and at least one was headed towards the Polish city of Rzeszow. Reuters could not independently verify the reports, and there was no official confirmation from Poland that Russian drones were in Polish airspace.

At midnight on Tuesday London time (9am AEST) most of Ukraine, including the western regions of Volyn and Lviv, which border Poland and are far from the Russian-Ukraine war front line, were under air raid alerts for several hours, according to Ukraine’s Air Force data.