Poland scrambles jets as Russia strikes Kyiv
Russia’s defence ministry says it has carried out a “massive” attack on Ukraine, with at least four people dead and dozens more injured.
Russia has launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine, killing at least four people and injuring dozens, in one of the most sustained attacks on the capital since the full-scale war began.
Neighbouring Poland closed its airspace near two southeastern cities and its air force scrambled jets in response until the danger had passed.
Ukraine’s military early on Sunday said Russia had launched 595 drones and 48 missiles overnight and its air defences shot down 568 drones and 43 missiles. It noted that the main target of the strike was the capital Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the attack, which lasted more than 12 hours, killed four people, including a child, with two of the deaths occurring at a Kyiv cardiology clinic.
He said 80 people were injured in the strikes and factories, residential buildings and energy-generating sites were damaged.
Russia’s defence ministry on Sunday said it had carried out a “massive” attack on Ukraine using long-range air- and sea-based weapons and drones to target military infrastructure, including airfields.
Moscow has denied targeting civilians in its war against Ukraine, although thousands have been killed and residential areas extensively damaged by its attacks.
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Zelenskiy again urged the international community to act decisively to cut off Russia’s energy revenues that fund its invasion. Ukraine has so far failed to convince US President Donald Trump to impose punitive sanctions on Moscow.
“The time for decisive action is long overdue, and we count on a strong response from the United States, Europe, the G7, and the G20,” he said.
Speaking in his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said that while the UN was holding General Assembly sessions, Russia had “literally used every day, every hour, to strike at Ukraine. Vile strikes”.
Zelenskiy said it was important that further sanctions on Russia to be adopted by Europe target Russia’s energy resources, particularly its tanker fleet.
He described the overnight attack on the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia as “extraordinarily fierce” with nearly 40 injured.
He and other officials have asked international partners for more to protect Ukraine’s skies, but air defence systems are limited in availability and other nations are keen to bolster their defences amid perceived threats from Russia.
Meanwhile, there have been renewed drone sightings at Danish military facilities.
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Denmark’s defence ministry says “drones have been observed at several of Danish defence facilities” over the weekend.
The renewed drone sightings come after there were several drone sightings in the country earlier this week, with some of them temporarily shutting down Danish airports.
Several local media reported that one or more drones were seen near or above the military Karup Air Base, which is Denmark’s biggest military base.
The defence ministry refused to confirm the sighting at Karup or elsewhere and said that “for reasons of operational security and the ongoing investigation, the Defence Command Denmark does not wish to elaborate further on drone sightings”.
The ministry clarified later to public broadcaster DR that reports of additional drone activity at Skrydstrup Air Base and the Jutland Dragoon Regiment referred to sightings that did not occur overnight from Friday to Saturday.
Its earlier statement seemed to imply that timing and was widely reported.
The ministry could not be reached immediately for confirmation but a press release on its website referring to the incidents at the base and barracks was dated on Thursday – though it did not directly confirm the sightings took place that day.
Tensions have been running high in Denmark in recent days after various drone activity, and hundreds of possible sightings reported by concerned citizens could not officially be confirmed.
Nonetheless, the public has been asked to report all suspicious activity to police.
In neighbouring Germany, several drones were reported in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, which borders Denmark, from Thursday into Friday night.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Saturday that the threat from drones was “high” and that the country would take measures to defend itself.
“There is a threat that can be classified as high when it comes to drones. It is an abstract threat but very concrete in individual cases,” Dobrindt told journalists in Berlin.
Among the measures, Germany will look to revise an aviation security law to allow the country’s armed forces to get involved to possibly shoot down drones, he said.
“It’s about being prepared so that critical infrastructure or large gatherings of people, for example, can be protected,” he said.
-with Reuters
