Poland scrambles aircraft as Russia fires hundreds of drones and missiles at Ukraine
Polish and allied aircraft were deployed early on Saturday to ensure the safety of Polish airspace after Russia launched airstrikes targeting western Ukraine near the border with Poland, armed forces of the Nato-member country said.
“Polish and allied aircraft are operating in our airspace, while ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have been brought to the highest state of readiness,” the operational command said in a post on X.
At 03.40 British time, nearly all of Ukraine was under air raid alerts after Ukrainian air force warnings of Russian missile and drone attacks.
Shortly after 05.00 British time, Polish and allied air forces ended the operation as airstrikes by the Russian Federation against Ukraine were ceased, the Polish command said, adding that the actions were “preventative and aimed at securing airspace in areas adjacent to the threatened area”.
The move comes after Russia fired 40 missiles and about 580 drones at Ukraine in a “massive attack” that killed three and wounded dozens, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday.
“Every such strike is not a military necessity but a deliberate strategy by Russia to terrorise civilians and destroy our infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said on social media, urging Kyiv’s allies to provide more air defence systems and hit Moscow with extra sanctions.
“The enemy is attacking with strike drones and missiles. Peaceful settlements of the region are under attack,” Mykola Kalashnyk, the head of the Kyiv regional military administration, said.
The mayor of Mykolaiv said that Russia had also hit the southern Ukrainian city with drones and missiles but that there were “no casualties”.
Key events
The number of people wounded by Russian strikes in the Dniproppetrovsk region of Ukraine has been updated to at least 30, regional governor Sergiy Lysak said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The governor said one person had been killed by the strikes while another man was in a serious condition.
Several high-rise buildings and homes were damaged in the eastern city of Dnipro.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Russia had fired 40 missiles and about 580 drones at Ukraine in a “massive attack” that killed three and wounded dozens.
He said attacks took place across nine regions, including Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava, Kyiv, Odesa, Sumy and Kharkiv.
The president added that Ukraine and its partners have laid the groundwork for long-term security guarantees and that he hopes to gauge how close they are to finalising such commitments during next week’s UN general assembly meetings in New York.
Zelenskyy said in comments released by the Ukrainian presidency on Saturday:
We expect sanctions if there is no meeting between the leaders or, for example, no ceasefire.
We are ready for a meeting with Putin. I have spoken about this. Both bilateral and trilateral. He is not ready.
Dublin airport’s Terminal 2 was evacuated on Saturday as a “safety precaution” and flight operations may be affected temporarily, the airport said in a post on X.
Police are at the scene after an incident, the Irish Examiner newspaper reported.
The Irish police press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
The evacuation comes after a cyber-attack at a service provider for check-in and boarding systems disrupted operations at several major European airports including London’s Heathrow, Brussels and Berlin’s Brandenburg, causing flight delays and cancellations on Saturday.
The Ukrainian general staff said “strategic objects of the Russian aggressor were struck”, adding its forces “inflicted damage” on the Saratov oil refinery and struck the Novokuybyshevsk oil refinery in the Samara region.
“Preliminary information indicates that explosions and fires were recorded at the site as a result of the strike,” it said on social media.
Earlier, governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said that four people had been killed and one injured after a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s south-western Samara region (see 12.11pm BST).
Responding to Estonia requesting a consultation with other Nato members after Russian jets violated its airspace on Friday, the UK’s Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said:
It’s crystal clear that Putin’s imperial ambitions stretch beyond his barbarism in Ukraine.
The prime minister must act – today – to show Putin we won’t roll over in the face of this aggression. That means seizing the £25bn of frozen Russian assets across the UK.
He must also urgently send UK jets to support Nato’s Baltic air policing mission – ensuring Britain has a direct role to play in deterring future Russian violations.
If we let Putin violate the sovereignty of Nato’s countries without consequence, it will only lead to more Russian aggression against the Baltics and eastern Europe.
Zelenskyy accuses allies of ‘wasting time’ as he prepares for Trump meeting
Luke Harding
Luke Harding reporting from Kyiv:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will urge Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Russia when they meet next week at the United Nations in New York, and has called on Ukraine’s allies to “stop wasting time”.
Zelenskyy said he expected further sanctions to be imposed if Vladimir Putin refuses to meet him for face-to-face talks or to agree to a ceasefire. “If the war continues and there are no moves towards peace we expect sanctions,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to take action against Russia but has so far failed to follow through. Last week he said the US was ready to “do major sanctions” – but only after all Nato countries agreed to stop buying oil from Russia, and to put tariffs on China, another big importer.
Speaking to a group of journalists in Kyiv, including the Guardian, Zelenskyy expressed frustration at the pace of events. He said to “tie up” possible US sanctions with demands on European countries to move first was to “slow down the pressure on Putin”.
Speaking in his presidential office, Zelenskyy said:
President Trump expects strong action from Europe. I think we are wasting a lot of time if sanctions are not imposed or some steps are not taken, that we very much expect from him [Trump].
Trump’s close allies Hungary and Slovakia have refused to cut energy ties with Moscow. They are the last two EU members still buying Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline. Ukraine bombed it last month, prompting an angry response from Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán.
Zelenskyy said he wanted the “whole of Europe” to impose sanctions. He said Trump could “push” European countries to do more and added that Slovakia’s pro-Russian government was likely to respond to American pressure. “Everyone is looking to the United States,” he said.
He reiterated his willingness to meet Putin in any format – either one to one, or “trilaterally”, with the US president in the room. The Kremlin says the “root causes” of the conflict have to be addressed before this can happen, referring to Ukraine’s capitulation.
UK chancellor Rachel Reeves will announce plans to explore using frozen Russian assets to fund a “reparations loan” that could provide billions of pounds for Ukraine’s war effort, reports the PA news agency.
The chancellor is expected to make the announcement at a meeting with her European counterparts in Copenhagen on Saturday, saying it is “right to explore all options to support Ukraine”.
It comes after European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen last week suggested providing a loan to Ukraine backed by the “cash balances” associated with Russian assets frozen by the EU. She did not provide details of how it would work, but the move would allow the EU to use Russian assets to fund Ukraine without immediately confiscating them, which several countries fear would breach international law.
According to the PA news agency, Treasury officials also declined to discuss the mechanisms the UK would consider, but said they would be developed alongside the EU and comply with international law.
Reeves said:
While Russia has no respect for international law, the UK does.
We will only consider options in line with international law and that are economically and financially responsible.
In March, the UK announced it would provide a £2.26bn loan to Ukraine based on profits generated by frozen Russian assets. But the government has been urged to go further, with the Liberal Democrats calling for ministers to seize the assets outright and use them to support Ukraine.
The Treasury said a “reparations loan” could see billions of pounds made available for Ukraine without touching the underlying assets. Reeves said:
This is Russia’s war, and Russia should pay. It is right to explore all options to support Ukraine.
Defending against Russian aggression is vital not just to the long-term security and prosperity of Ukraine, but to the UK and the whole of Europe.
Since the outbreak of war, the UK has committed up to £21.8bn for Ukraine, just less than the £25bn of Russian assets the government has frozen, reports the PA news agency.
Ukrainian drone attack on Russia kills four people, says governor
A Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s south-western Samara region killed four people, the local governor said on Saturday as Kyiv said Ukraine had been targeted with hundreds of Russian drones overnight.
“It is with deep sorrow that I report that four people were killed in an enemy drone attack last night,” governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said on social media, adding that one person was injured.
Afternoon summary
Here is a recap of the events from today so far:
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Polish and allied aircraft were deployed early on Saturday to ensure the safety of Polish airspace after Russia launched airstrikes targeting western Ukraine near the border with Poland, armed forces of the Nato-member country said. “Polish and allied aircraft are operating in our airspace, while ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have been brought to the highest state of readiness,” the operational command said in a post on X.
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Russia fired 40 missiles and about 580 drones at Ukraine in a “massive attack” that killed three and wounded dozens, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday. “Every such strike is not a military necessity but a deliberate strategy by Russia to terrorise civilians and destroy our infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said on social media, urging Kyiv’s allies to provide more air defence systems and hit Moscow with extra sanctions.
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Sergiy Lysak, the head of the Ukrainian military administration in the Dnipropetrovsk region, said Russia’s latest strikes killed one person and wounded 26, with one man in a serious condition. Vyacheslav Chaus from the regional administration in Chernigiv in northern Ukraine said a 62-year-old man died in a drone attack. About 20 residential buildings were damaged in the Khmelnytskyi region, local official Sergiy Tyurin said on Telegram, adding that one body was found “during the extinguishing of a fire in one of the houses.”
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A cyber-attack at a service provider for check-in and boarding systems has disrupted operations at several major European airports including London’s Heathrow, Brussels and Berlin’s Brandenburg, causing flight delays and cancellations on Saturday. Collins Aerospace owner RTX said on Saturday that it had become aware of a cyber-related disruption to its MUSE software in selected airports, adding that it was “actively working to resolve the issue and restore full functionality to our customers as quickly as possible”.
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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would meet his US counterpart Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN general assembly next week in comments released on Saturday. Zelenskyy said he would hold “a meeting with the president of the United States”, adding he would discuss security guarantees for Ukraine and sanctions on Russia during the talks with Trump.
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Three Russian MiG-31 fighters violated Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland on Friday, Estonia said, triggering complaints of a dangerous new provocation from the EU and Nato. Italian F-35 fighters attached to Nato’s air defence support mission in the Baltic states were scrambled to intercept the Russian jets and warn them off, Estonian and Italian officials said, with alliance chief Mark Rutte praising the “quick and decisive response”.
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Russia’s defence ministry on Friday denied that three of its MiG-31 fighter jets had illegally entered Estonian airspace. The ministry said the jets were on a “scheduled flight… in strict compliance with international airspace regulations and did not violate the borders of other states, as confirmed by objective monitoring”.
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Zelenskyy on Friday condemned the move, calling the 12-minute incursion “outrageous” and accusing Moscow of deliberately expanding its “destabilising activity” three and a half years after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “These are not accidents. This is a systematic Russian campaign directed against Europe, against Nato, against the West. And it requires a systemic response,” Zelenskyy posted on X.
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One or more large fires erupted early on Saturday at Russia’s Saratov oil refinery as it was hit heavily by Ukrainian drones that attacked the target deep inside Russian territory for at least the second time in a week. Videos vetted and posted by online analysts showed incoming UAVs followed by big explosions and flames rising from the site while air raid sirens blared. The major refinery is nearly 600km (370 miles) east of the frontline in Ukraine. The Russian governor in the area, Roman Busargin, confirmed an attack by UAVs.
British transport minister Heidi Alexander said on Saturday that she was getting regular updates on an earlier incident affecting airline check-in and boarding which was impacting flights at Heathrow and other European airports.
She said in a post on X:
I‘m aware of an incident affecting airline check-in and boarding, impacting flights at Heathrow and other European airports
I’m getting regular updates, and monitoring the situation. If you’re flying at Heathrow today, check with your airline before travelling.
Brussels airport said earlier that a cyber-attack was having a “large impact” on flight schedules, with similar problems being flagged at Berlin’s Brandenburg airport and Heathrow in London, Europe’s busiest.
According to the BBC, aviation watchdog Eurocontrol said airlines had been asked to cancel half their flights to and from Brussels airport between 4.00am British time on Saturday and 2.00am British time on Sunday because of the incident.
Berlin airport said on its website that there were longer waiting times at check-in and it was working on a quick solution.
Delta Air Lines said it anticipated minimal impact to flights departing from the three affected airports, according to Reuters.
It added that the airline had implemented a workaround to minimise any disruption.
The general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine claimed on Saturday that Russia had lost more than 1 million troops since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022.
The report, published in a Facebook post, said Russia had lost about 1,100,600 troops, 11,192 tanks and 23,280 armoured combat vehicles.
Also included in the list were 32,927 artillery systems, 1,492 multiple launch rocket systems and 61,045 drones.
Ruth Michaelson
Ruth Michaelson is a journalist based in Istanbul
The outgoing head of MI6 has issued a damning indictment of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying that Vladimir Putin has “bitten off more than he can chew”.
Richard Moore, known within MI6 as C, used his farewell speech in Istanbul to say that while Russia was unlikely to win on the battlefield, his agency was seeking to recruit spies inside Russia and worldwide in order to fight back.
“Putin has sought to convince the world that Russian victory is inevitable, but he lies. He lies to the world. He lies to his people. Perhaps he even lies to himself,” said Moore. “But we should not believe him. Or credit him with strength he does not have.”
Any Russian victories on the battlefield remained incremental, said Moore, and incurred massive costs as the president’s army fell far short of its original aims to swiftly capture all of Ukraine.
The rising costs now included more than a million casualties – a quarter of them “poorly trained troops from Russia’s poorest regions” that were “fed into the meat grinder”, he said.
You can read more of Ruth Michaelson’s report here: Outgoing MI6 chief says Putin has ‘bitten off more than he can chew’ in Ukraine
