Poland’s military says drones that breached its airspace were shot down as Russia launched a wave of air attacks on Ukraine. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X that he had received a report from the Operational Command of the Army describing drones entering Polish airspace and potentially posing a threat, and he said he had informed NATO’s secretary-general about the steps taken by Poland.

Polish forces remained on a heightened state of alert overnight into Wednesday morning amid what officials described as further large-scale strikes against targets in Ukraine. Warsaw’s Chopin Airport warned on its website that flight operations are on hold due to airspace closures over parts of the country, though the airport itself remained open. Poland has previously reported Russian objects entering its airspace during attacks on Ukraine; in August, defence ministers said a flying object that crashed in eastern Poland was identified as a Russian drone, and described as a provocation. In March, Poland scrambled jets after a Russian missile briefly crossed into Polish airspace en route to western Ukraine, and in 2022 a missile believed fired by Ukraine to intercept a Russian attack landed in Poland, killing two people.

Joint Russian-Belarusian exercises dubbed Zapad 2025 are due to take place in Belarus from Friday and will run until 16 September. Troops will simulate repelling an attack, including airstrikes and sabotage, according to official reports. The exercises are meant to illustrate Moscow’s ties with Minsk and Russian military strength amid the war in neighbouring Ukraine. Kyiv and its Western partners, including Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, have raised concerns about the drills near Belarus.