Poland Scrambles Fighter Aircraft as Russian forces Targets Ukrainian regions near Poland
Russia attacked Ukraine with aerial assaults through the night on Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday, focusing on the major western city of Lviv region.
Neighboring country Polish authorities deployed combat aircraft to ensure the safety of their national airspace, the Polish military stated. Allied Nato aircraft were also deployed.
Lviv's regional head local authorities confirmed two individuals were killed in strikes in the region, and an additional two wounded.
Elsewhere, Russian forces again targeted Ukraine's power plants - and one was struck in an overnight attack on Zaporizhzhia, where the mayor reported one person lost their life and over seventy-three thousand residents were without electricity.
Defensive Measures
These attacks came days after a US official stated the United States would support Ukraine conducting long-range attacks inside Russian territory.
"Our and partner nations' jets are active in Polish skies, while ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have been brought to the highest state of readiness," Poland's operational command said.
At early morning, all of Ukraine was placed on high alert following air defense warnings of Russian missile and drone attacks.
Infrastructure Damage
Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
The city's administration Andriy Sadovyi reported several districts - 70 km from the border with Poland - had lost electricity, adding that the local anti-aircraft units were engaged heavily in repelling first a UAV and then a missile strike.
As of 07:30, parts of the city were experiencing outages and municipal transit was not operational, with authorities emphasizing that it was "unsafe to go out into the streets".
In the Zaporizhzhia area, Russia's overnight attack left "over seventy-three thousand users... without electricity", according to Ivan Fedorov.
An individual was killed, and nine injured, Fedorov confirmed.
A 16-year-old girl was one of those requiring hospital treatment, he added, posting photos depicting a damaged multi-storey block and a destroyed vehicle from the impact location.
Regional Impact
Public transport in Ivano-Frankivsk, would "start running later than usual" on Sunday, its city administration said.
The multiple strikes were part of Russia's threats against the entire nation overnight.
At around 06:00, Ukraine's Air Force warned the entire territory was under the threat of fresh Russian missile attacks, following hours of air raid alerts and warnings of aerial assaults.
Occupied Regions
Russian forces have taken control of the majority of the Donbas area, including Luhansk and Donetsk.
Russian authorities currently controls around one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean peninsula, which it seized in 2014.
International Context
In Russian territory, anti-aircraft systems destroyed 32 Ukrainian drones overnight, news agencies reported on Sunday morning.
Recently, a American diplomat said that the United States would back Ukrainian forces conducting long-range operations within Russia.
Meanwhile, a different NATO country - Lithuania - had to suspend flights briefly after objects were spotted.
Authorities halted air traffic at its main international airport for multiple hours, before reopening it at early morning on Sunday.
The airport's operator said the flight suspensions and reroutings were "due to a possible series of balloons approaching the aviation facility".
