Poland responds to Russian attacks on western Ukraine

Poland’s Deputy Minister of National Defence Cezary Tomczyk made the statement on X, according to Ukrinform.

“Anyone wondering whether Ukraine should be supported militarily should draw conclusions from this night,” Tomczyk wrote.

He said that for many people, the war “may still seem like something distant and almost surreal, but in reality, it is happening very close to the Polish border.”

“Today’s attacks show this very clearly,” the Deputy Defense Minister stressed.

According to Tomczyk, in a single night, Russia launches hundreds and sometimes nearly a thousand aerial attack weapons at Ukraine – ballistic and cruise missiles, guided aerial bombs and drones. Some of them head westward.

“Every missile destroyed and every drone shot down is a threat that does not fly any farther,” Tomczyk stressed.

He noted that the Polish Air Force operates almost every night in the airspace over the Lublin and Podkarpackie voivodeships.

Tomczyk stressed that Ukraine’s victory in the war is in the interests of Poland and all of Europe.

“Russia is waging a terrorist war, and Putin bears responsibility for it. The sooner this war ends, the better it will be for the security of our region,” he said.

At the same time, Poland’s Deputy Defense Minister emphasized that “there will be no lasting peace without a strong Ukraine and without the unity of states that understand what the Russian threat means today.”

Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz also commented on Russia’s overnight attack on Ukraine.

“Before dawn, our systems detected an attack by several Geran-5 jet-powered drones in western Ukraine. One of them struck one kilometer from the Polish border, another five kilometers away,” Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote.

According to him, during the attack, Polish airspace was monitored by F-16 fighter jets, helicopters and a Saab airborne reconnaissance aircraft. No violation of Polish airspace was recorded.

Kosiniak-Kamysz said Russian forces are “changing their attack tactics, increasingly using jet-powered drones, launching several at a time and thereby exhausting Ukrainian air defenses.”

The official stressed that Poland’s air defense remains on constant alert.

As reported by Ukrinform, overnight on September 13, a gas station near the Yahodyn border crossing on the Polish border was damaged in a Russian attack on Ukraine’s Volyn region.

In addition, Russian forces attacked the locomotive of a passenger train two kilometers from the Polish border.

In Poland, an air raid alert was issued in the Lublin and Podkarpackie voivodeships in response to the Russian attack on Ukraine, and Polish fighter jets were scrambled. Processing of documents at Polish-Ukrainian border crossings was also temporarily suspended.