Poland scrambles military aircraft in response to Russian strikes on western Ukraine
Back to the situation in Europe: Poland has scrambled its military aircraft in response to Russian attacks on western Ukraine.
It is not necessarily unusual – and in fact is becoming increasingly regular and routine as Russian airstrikes on Ukraine intensify in recent weeks.
Local residents in Lublin in eastern Poland reported hearing civil defence warning sirens, with Poland’s government security centre also issuing text alerts to locals. Lublin and Rzeszów airports suspended their operations.
But, curiously, the last few minutes, the centre has upgraded the warning to “a threat of air attack.”
One to watch.
Closing summary
And, on that note, we will be closing the blog for today.
A Russian jet-powered drone crashed near the Polish-Ukrainian border checkpoint in Dorohusk-Jagodzin (17:39), after Poland’s government centre for security issued an urgent alert against “threat of an air attack” and told residents in eastern Poland to shelter (17:11).
The warning has since been lifted.
Earlier,
Nato’s supreme allied commander Alexus G. Grynkewich warned the global security environment is “unsettled,” “complex” and “likely to become even more so over the next several years,” as he briefed EU lawmakers on the latest incidents and threat assessments (16:04).
His comments came just hours after another deadly Russian drone strikes on Ukraine, including the National Academy of Sciences in Kyiv (13:22, 13:42, 14:05, 14:17, 15:17).
Separately, EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned that the EU needs to “rearm more quickly” to meet its 2030 targets, adding that Russia appears to be “not interested in peace at all” (12:55, 13:07, 13:19).
Separately,
Pope Leo has said negotiators seeking to end war in Europe must be willing to sacrifice “some positions” to achieve peace, as efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine continue to fail (17:04).
In a wide-ranging speech on Europe’s Christian heritage, Pope Leo also called for a “new and creative” rediscovery of the continent’s roots as he called out the culture of “boasting of lies and deceit” (12:48).
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com.
I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.
A Russian jet-powered drone crashes near Polish-Ukrainian border
Speaking to Poland’s broadcaster TVN24, Lt Col Jacek Goryszewski of the Armed Forces Operational Command said that a Russian jet-powered drone crashed near the Polish-Ukrainian border checkpoint Dorohusk-Jagodzin.
“It’s again a danger [getting] very close to our border,” he said.
It is understood that the drone crashed on the Ukrainian side of the border, and Polish airspace was not violated.
At this moment there are no other comments confirming the incident.
But it looks like the situation is contained; the air attack warning has been lifted, and Lublin and Rzeszów airports have now resumed their operations.
Poland scrambles military aircraft in response to Russian strikes on western Ukraine
Back to the situation in Europe: Poland has scrambled its military aircraft in response to Russian attacks on western Ukraine.
It is not necessarily unusual – and in fact is becoming increasingly regular and routine as Russian airstrikes on Ukraine intensify in recent weeks.
Local residents in Lublin in eastern Poland reported hearing civil defence warning sirens, with Poland’s government security centre also issuing text alerts to locals. Lublin and Rzeszów airports suspended their operations.
But, curiously, the last few minutes, the centre has upgraded the warning to “a threat of air attack.”
One to watch.
Pope Leo says negotiators must be willing to sacrifice 'some positions' to achieve peace
in Paris
Pope Leo has said negotiators seeking to end war in Europe must be willing to sacrifice “some positions” to achieve peace, as efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine continue to fail.
“Today sadly war has returned, even to Europe: a new senseless slaughter, claiming countless civilian lives every day,” the pontiff told an audience in Metz at the end of a four-day visit to France.
Without directly mentioning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he said:
He invoked a similar 1917 appeal from Pope Benedict XV amid the carnage of the first world war.
Leo, the first US-born pope, also reiterated his opposition to rising European military spending, which grew last year by the highest amount since the end of the cold war, while under pressure from the US president, Donald Trump, and the threat from Russia.
“We must also guard against the illusion that rearmament is the answer,” he said.
“Today we must ask whether we are truly making creative efforts to advance world peace, or whether we are simply seeking to ‘stem the tide of war’ and better prepare ourselves for wars that we assume are still to come.”
Leo also praised integration and multiculturalism at a time when anti-immigration parties are gaining strength across the region.
Speaking in French, he urged Europeans to recall the founding values of the EU, including the rule of law and the equality of all people without distinction of race, colour, class or profession.
Leo urged European leaders to integrate people arriving on the continent who are fleeing “war, persecution and misery” and to offer them opportunities as if they were family members.
The pope, who has frequently urged world leaders to treat migrants more humanely, repeated his call for “legal and safe pathways” for immigration, and international cooperation to fight human trafficking.
“To welcome a person means to integrate them as if they were part of one’s own family, offering them the opportunity to develop their gifts, abilities and sensibilities,” he said.
Reuters contributed to this report
Earlier today, I covered Pope Leo’s wide-ranging speech on Europe and its roots, which he delivered in Metz, France (12:48).
Here is our Paris correspondent Angelique Chrisafis’s take on today’s events.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered a further response to today’s strikes on Kyiv.
On his social media channels, he said:
Global security 'unsettled' and 'likely to become more so' in coming years, top Nato commander in Europe warns
Nato’s supreme allied commander Alexus G. Grynkewich warned the global security environment is “unsettled,” “complex” and “likely to become even more so over the next several years.”
“We were reminded of this again this past weekend in the United Kingdom, where five men were arrested on suspicion of committing offences under the Explosives Act in preparation of a terrorist act near RAF Fairford,” he said.
Speaking to the European parliament’s Committee on Security and Defence, Grynkewich said that China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are “collaborating in ways directly counter to all of our global interests.”
He said the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East showed “not only a changing character of warfare, but also a sobering preview of how future simultaneous and potentially protracted conflicts might look: multi-theater conflicts, multi-domain conflicts, and highly autonomous conflicts.”
He repeated his recent warning that as a result “we are all eastern flank nations now.” “Those drones can go 1000s of miles, 1000s of kilometres, and so if one gets through, it’s not just a threat on the eastern flank; it’s a threat to the entire alliance, including all the way in North America,” he said.
Grynkewich also acknowledged “growing instability across Nato’s periphery” and “an increase … in hybrid activity targeting our critical infrastructure, our societies, and our resolve,” as “state-directed sabotage is growing increasingly brazen.”
He said the recent incidents in Leipzig and involving a Danish helicopter “are clear examples of attempts to instil fear and fracture our unified support to Ukraine.”
“It isn’t working, as evidenced by the Danish response when they fast-tracked a major military aid package worth 1.8bn kroner to Ukraine following the flare incident,” he said.
He also said as a result of Nato’s Eastern Sentry mission, Russia appears to be “much more careful to avoid coming across the border with drones in the Baltics or into Poland.”
But Grynkewich said Nato was “detecting, attributing and responding as these hybrid threads arise,” acknowledging they get “more blatant” and grow both in numbers and severity.
He told lawmakers that “it is really important that we share intelligence and information about these threats so we all have the same, common operating picture.”
The Nato commander said that countries should not shy away from naming who they think is responsible for these incidents:
He also spoke about the broader need to keep reforming and investing in European defence to meet the growing challenges.
“Industry must not only produce the capabilities we need to seize the initiative, but it must be ready to sustain the fight in the event it goes on longer than we would like. Meanwhile, our societies must build the resilience needed to withstand manipulation designed to weaken our resolve from within,” he added.
In comments likely intended to dismiss Russia’s criticism of the alliance, the commander stressed that Nato remains “a defensive alliance,” and has “no ambitions, no plans and no intentions beyond the defence of our territory.”
“But our defensive nature should not be mistaken for a lack of will or a lack of resolve. While we do not seek conflict, we will meet any attack against our alliance with overwhelming combat power, ensuring any attack will fail,” he stressed.
France’s far-right National Rally surges in partial Senate elections
in Paris
In other European news, the French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has said her 2027 presidential campaign will be boosted after her anti-immigration party, the National Rally (RN), and its allies secured a record 14 seats in partial senate elections this weekend.
Le Pen called the results a “historic victory” and “major milestone” after her party cleared the 10-seat threshold to be able to form a senate group for the first time, following an indirect vote by local officials including mayors and councillors.
The party’s progress in the senate will allow them higher visibility and more funding in the second house of parliament ahead next spring’s presidential election. Le Pen is currently polling high as Emmanuel Macron prepares to step down after ten years in office.
The RN MP Sébastien Chenu called the gains “a boost for the presidential campaign” and said there was “no more glass ceiling” for the party. Edwige Diaz, who secured a large senate win for the RN in Gironde outside Bordeaux, told Le Parisien: “This will be very useful for us before the presidential election.”
The 348-seat senate is France’s second chamber of parliament alongside the national assembly. Final results on Monday morning showed the senate remained dominated by the traditional right and centre-right.
The upper chamber’s president of more than a decade, Gerard Larcher, 77, from the rightwing party Les Républicains is expected to be re-elected next week.
Although the RN is currently the biggest single opposition party in the national assembly, and has the largest number of French members of the European parliament, it has until now never had a grouping in the senate, where its presence has been small.
One dead, 19 injured in today's attacks on Kyiv, mayor says
And when it comes to today’s attacks, Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko says one woman died, and 19 residents were injured, including three children.
AP is carrying an updated casualty toll, stating that Russia’s round-the-clock bombardment of targets in Ukraine killed at least seven people and wounded more than 53 others from Sunday to Monday.
