NATO was forced to scramble warplanes overnight amid a massive new bombardment of Ukraine close to the borders of four Western states. The hypersonic missile and drone onslaught hit the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk, in the strongest attack of the 1,243-day war, as well as Kyiv and Kharkiv.
But Vladimir Putin suffered a fifth day of flight chaos from Ukrainian drones as all four major Moscow airports were forced to temporarily close and cancel, reroute or delay flights. Russia was also hit by massive train delays on key military supply routes, with a drone strike by Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces on a railway station in the Rostov region.
The use of drones to inflict mayhem on Putin’s transport infrastructure appears to be a key new Ukrainian tactic as Kyiv demands peace talks to end the war.
Military commanders in Poland announced: “Polish and allied [NATO] air forces have commenced operations, and ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have reached the highest level of alert.”
Russian missile and drone bombardment of the city of Ivano-Frankivsk – the heaviest of the war – was between 60 and 105 miles from NATO states Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.
Putin deployed his strategic nuclear-capable Tu-95MS bombers in the overnight strikes. It was the second time in three days that NATO fighters were scrambled due to Putin’s bombing.
“Long-range aviation of the Russian Federation once again launched a massive missile strike on Ukrainian territory,” said the statement from the Polish armed forces command.
“In response to this aggressive activity, and with the security of the Republic of Poland in mind, all procedures aimed at strengthening the protection of Polish airspace were immediately initiated.”
Casualties were reported in Ivano-Frankivsk after Russian strikes involving Kinzhal – or Dagger – hypersonic missiles and drones. Four people were injured, including a child.
“This is the largest attack since the beginning of the full-scale invasion,” said Mayor Roman Martsinkiv.
Three villages in the Ivano-Frankivsk region were hit by the Russian war machine.
One man was killed and several were wounded in a fearsome ten-hour missile and drone onslaught on Kyiv, with the carnage, as usual, afflicting civilians. A girl, 15, was among those hurt.
The strikes targeted the Artyom military plant and Zhulyany airport in Kyiv but also hit multiple districts in the capital —Holosiivskyi, Darnytskyi, Dniprovskyi, Obolonskyi, Sviatoshynskyi, Solomianskyi, and Shevchenkivskyi.
The entrance to the Lukianivska metro station, where people were sheltering during the night of hell, was damaged.
A nursery school was burning in Kyiv after a Russian missile attack, which also left the city blanketed in thick, noxious fumes.
A dozen strikes hit the Ukrainian second city of Kharkiv, with explosions thundering in the city.
In the Khmelnytskyi region, 20 houses were damaged by the Russian strikes.
But Putin was left humiliated by the scale of the fight and rail chaos inflicted by Ukrainian strikes. The worst-hit airport was Moscow’s major international airport, Sheremetyevo, where Defence Ministry TV station Zvezda admitted: “People are standing in long lines.
“Many are trying to sleep wherever they can before their flight — some lie down by chairs in the waiting area, others even use decorative ‘islands’ with grass as temporary sleeping spots.”
Hundreds of flight arrivals and departures have been disrupted at Sheremetyevo and other Moscow airports – Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky.
Nizhny Novgorod airport, east of the capital, was also hit. Multiple flights were sent to other airports, and extra trains were put on to ferry stranded travellers from St Petersburg, where many rerouted flights were dispatched, to Moscow.
A report said today that 75 flights were delayed early at Sheremetyevo, and more than 100 were cancelled.
There was train carnage too, on key rail routes in southern Russia after a Ukrainian drone strike on Kamenolomni railway station. The roof of the station was ablaze.
Some 26 trains were disrupted – some more than 10 hours late. The line here is crucial for Russian military supplies. A day earlier, 130 trains were disrupted due to an earlier attack on Likhaya station in the Rostov region.
Russian air defence claimed to shoot down 74 Ukrainian drones overnight, 23 over the Moscow region. Russia deployed Kh-101/55 cruise missiles from Tu-95MS bombers.
The cruel strikes were also by Kalibr cruise missiles, Iskander-M ballistic missiles and Kinzhalk hypersonic missiles, as well as Shahed [Geran] drones.
There was evidence of Russian public opinion turning against Putin due to the rising air and rail chaos.
The Public Opinion Foundation said that over the past week, the proportion of Russians criticising the government has risen from 25% to 30%, the sharpest jump since the beginning of the year.
Rising utility rates, inflation, and the impact of drone stickers, notably flight restrictions, internet outages, and railway disruption, are among the reasons.