NATO member Poland scrambled fighter jets close to the alliance’s border with Ukraine after Russia launched a “massive” aerial attack on Kyiv’s energy infrastructure overnight.
The Polish military said early on Sunday that “Polish and allied aircraft have begun operating in our airspace” after Russia attacked Ukraine with cruise and ballistic missiles, as well as drones.
Russian attacks have occasionally spilled over into NATO members like Poland and Romania, which borders chunks of western and southern Ukraine, when Moscow has targeted its neighbor’s western regions.
Warsaw’s armed forces “activated all available forces and resources,” including scrambling on-duty fighter jets and putting ground-based air-defense systems and radars on “the highest state of readiness,” the military said. Poland’s military command said in a later statement that the alert ended after Russia finished its strikes on Ukraine.
Moscow launched “a massive, combined attack” of around 120 missiles and 90 drones across Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement early on Sunday.
Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP
Moscow used several types of missiles, including its hypersonic Zircon and Kinzhal missiles, and the Iranian-designed Shahed strike drones, the Ukrainian leader said. Kyiv intercepted “over 140” of the incoming targets, Zelensky said.
Drones in Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv region killed two people and injured six others, including two children, according to the Ukrainian leader. Mykolaiv regional Governor Vitaliy Kim said two women were killed, seven people injured, and several buildings destroyed. One person was killed in the western Lviv region and two more injured, Ukraine’s state emergency service said.
Over the past week, the aggressor used nearly 140 missiles of various types, more than 900 guided aerial bombs, and over 600 strike drones. Today, our F-16 pilots shot down approximately 10 aerial targets. Efforts to address the consequences of the combined attack on our… pic.twitter.com/rpRNJmIPIn
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 17, 2024
Ukraine’s air force said Russia had fired one Zircon hypersonic cruise missile, eight Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles, and more than 100 Kalibr and Kh-101 cruise missiles as well as several other types. Ukraine downed 102 of the missiles and 42 of the drones, the air force said, adding: “Air defense worked in almost all regions of Ukraine.”
This includes the capital, as well as swathes of central and southern Ukraine, and the western Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Volyn regions. Volyn sits on the Ukrainian border with Poland, and authorities in the region said they had set up points for residents to access water, electricity and heat during power outages.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had carried out a “a massive strike with high-precision, long-range air- and sea-based weapons and strike drones” in the early hours of Sunday.
Moscow targeted Kyiv’s “critical energy infrastructure facilities that supported the operation of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex and enterprises producing military products,” the Russian government said. “All planned targets were hit.”
“Unfortunately, some facilities sustained damage from direct hits and falling debris,” Zelensky said.
Ukrainian officials have expected Russian attacks on the country’s vital energy infrastructure heading into the winter. Kyiv has pleaded for more air defenses from its Western backers to intercept missiles and drones.
Ukrainian Energy Minister, Herman Halushchenko, said early on Sunday that Russia had attacked generators and electrical transmitters across the country, triggering power outages.
“We are grateful to all our air defense units that participated in repelling this attack: anti-aircraft missile forces, our aviation—pilots of F16s, Su aircraft, and MiGs, mobile fire groups, and electronic warfare units—all worked together in an organized and coordinated manner,” Zelensky said.
Footage published online, which Newsweek could not independently verify, purports to show a Ukrainian F-16 in the air, readying to intercept Russian missiles. Zelensky said F-16 pilots had shot down 10 Russian aerial targets overnight.
Authorities in the capital said it was the most “powerful blow” from Russia in nearly three months. Kyiv Mayor, Vitalii Klitschko, said one woman had been hospitalized after a drone fragment struck a residential building.
Ukraine’s state-owned railway operator said Russian attacks on a depot in the central Dnipropetrovsk region overnight had killed two people and injured three others.