Russian missile in Poland follows strikes that kill 10 across Ukraine
Ukraine said Russian overnight attacks killed at least 10 civilians as NATO scrambled jets after a missile landed in rural Poland.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
A Russian missile in Poland triggered a NATO air response during an overnight Russian attack across Ukraine that killed at least 10 civilians, Ukrainian officials said Thursday. The episode added a new cross-border risk to a war that European governments have long feared could spread beyond Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials said Russia fired more than 70 missiles and more than 280 attack drones at at least 10 regions. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces intercepted more than 260 of the drones, while homes, businesses and infrastructure were damaged or destroyed.
Did a Russian missile land in Poland?
NATO said a Russian missile entered Polish airspace during the barrage and came down in a rural area. The alliance said there were no injuries or damage, but NATO aircraft were scrambled and ground defenses were activated in response.
Polish authorities said the missile vanished from radar before a helicopter crew found a likely impact site in an agricultural area of Lublin province. Polish news agency PAP reported that investigators found fragments indicating the object was a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte described the incident as another reckless act by Russia and a dangerous result of its war in Ukraine. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called it a serious incident, while saying there was no reason to think Poland had been the intended target.
Where did the attacks hit in Ukraine?
The deadliest reported strike was in the Dnipropetrovsk region, where regional military administration head Oleksandr Hanzha said six people were killed and 10 were wounded. He said the dead included a 6-year-old girl and boys ages 11 and 17 near Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s hometown.
Zelenskyy said the children’s parents also died in the strike, and that two other children were rescued from rubble. In Kyiv, the National Police press service said ballistic missile strikes killed a 31-year-old man and injured two other people.
Kyiv’s metro system said more than 56,000 people spent the night in subway stations for protection. In Lviv, regional military administration head Maksym Kozytskyi said a cruise missile attack killed one person and wounded more than 30, including children ages 6, 13 and 15.
Regional military head Vitalii Diakivnych said a drone hit warehouses in the Poltava region, killing one person. In Kherson, local officials said three Russian glide bombs hit an industrial area and killed a 56-year-old man.
What did Russia say it targeted?
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces struck Ukrainian air bases, weapons plants, military telecommunications and logistics sites, drone production facilities and storage depots. Ukraine has been pressing Western partners for more air defense systems, especially Patriot systems used against ballistic missiles.
Zelenskyy said on social media that Ukraine’s shortage of partner-supplied air defense missiles made protection from Russian missiles the country’s most urgent life-saving task. The attack came two days after he met U.S. President Donald Trump and representatives of American defense companies while seeking faster and larger Patriot deliveries.
Russia’s Defense Ministry also said its air defenses shot down 258 Ukrainian drones overnight. Inside Russia, Penza Gov. Oleg Melnichenko said a Wildberries depot was set on fire, four people were injured and 200 workers were evacuated; Wildberries also said a warehouse in Sarapul was hit by a Ukrainian drone and evacuated safely.
This story draws on original reporting from NPR.