Polish jets scramble twice overnight as Russia strikes Ukraine, alerts lifted

Polish fighter jets scrambled twice in less than twelve hours, once on Thursday evening and again before dawn on Friday, as Russia launched waves of strikes on Ukraine, Poland's Government Security Centre (RCB) and military said. Both alerts for residents of the eastern Lublin region were lifted within hours, with no violation of Polish airspace reported.

Poland's armed forces first scrambled aircraft shortly before 8pm on Thursday in response to Russian strikes on Ukraine, the military said. That operation ended by around 9pm, according to Polsat News.

A second, separate alert followed overnight. Poland's Operational Command said shortly after 1am on Friday that military aircraft were again operating in Polish airspace after renewed Russian strikes on targets in western Ukraine, describing the move as a precautionary step to secure Polish airspace. Ground-based air defence and radar systems were placed on readiness, the command said.

The RCB sent a text alert to residents of the Lublin region at 05:28 on Friday, warning of the Russian air attack on Ukraine and saying Polish aircraft were operating in national airspace. The warning reached people across 24 counties in the region, including Lublin, Chełm, Zamość and Biała Podlaska, according to RMF24.

The RCB cancelled the alert at 05:54, saying the air attack on Ukraine had ended and there was no threat on Polish territory. Shortly before 6am the military said its aircraft had stopped operating and that ground-based air defence and radar units had returned to standard activity, adding that no violation of Polish airspace had been observed.