NATO partner Poland scrambled fighter jets Wednesday amid a massive Russian attack on Ukraine.
Poland’s operational command said ground-based air defenses and radar systems were put on “the highest state of readiness,” according to Newsweek.
“The measures taken are aimed at ensuring security in areas bordering the threatened regions,” Warsaw’s military said, saying it was “fully ready for immediate response.”
Poland has been on edge since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 because Russian missile attacks on western Ukraine have come close to its border with Poland.
Russia sent 728 drones and decoys at Ukraine Wednesday, according to Ukraine’s air force. Last Friday, Russia had set a record that only lasted a few days by sending 539 drones at Ukraine, according to The New York Times. Russia also sent seven cruise missiles and six ballistic missiles at targets in Ukraine.
🚨OVERNIGHT: Poland scrambled fighter jets to patrol its airspace as Russia launched a massive overnight missile and drone assault on Ukrainian cities Lutsk and Zhytomyr near the Polish border.
Polish and allied forces remain on high alert with air defenses activated.
Ukraine… pic.twitter.com/Z1v6UauFke
— Breaking News (@TheNewsTrending) July 9, 2025
Ukrainian officials told Newsweek that their forces shot down 300 drones, while 400 missed their targets. Officials said Lutsk, near the border with both Poland and Belarus, was a prime target, as was the western city of Khmelnytskyi.
“This is a telling attack — and it comes precisely at a time when so many efforts have been made to achieve peace, to establish a ceasefire, and yet only Russia continues to rebuff them all,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
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The attack comes as President Donald Trump has vented his frustration that Russia seems immune to his efforts to end the war.
On Tuesday, Trump said his administration had “a lot of bulls*** thrown at us by Putin,” adding, “He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”
Trump may send an additional Patriot missile air-defense system to Ukraine, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Journal said that if that happens, it would mark “the first time Trump has approved providing a major weapons system to Kyiv beyond the number authorized by the Biden White House.”
The Journal noted that the Pentagon is supplying Trump with a list of options to defend Ukraine against Russian missiles.
Meanwhile, a report in The New York Times said Russian leader Vladimir Putin is going to step up military pressure on Ukraine, regardless of whatever Trump has to say. The Times quoted Kremlin sources it did not identify.
The Times report said Putin believes Russia is gaining the upper hand on the battlefield, and that within the next few months, Ukraine’s defenses could crack, giving Putting a complete military victory.
The sources cited by the Times said that because Putin believes he can achieve a military triumph, he has little interest in a peace deal without major Ukrainian concessions.
“He will not sacrifice his goals in Ukraine for the sake of improving relations with Trump,” Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said.
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