NATO scrambles jets as Putin launches devastating nuclear bomber attack
The Russian tyrant commanded a hypersonic missile and drone assault that struck the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk overnight in the most ferocious attack of the 1,243-day conflict, alongside strikes on Kyiv and Kharkiv.
Polish military chiefs revealed NATO members were put on "the highest level of alert" and scrambled aircraft for the second occasion in three days as the enormous bombardment approached within mere dozens of miles of several alliance nations' boundaries.
Defence commanders in Poland declared that Polish and other allied countries launched interceptors after the strikes occurred between 60 to 100 miles from the Hungarian, Polish, Romanian and Slovakian frontiers.
They announced in a statement published on social media: "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," reports the Mirror.
"Long-range aviation of the Russian Federation once again launched a massive missile strike on Ukrainian territory," declared the statement from 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," the statement added.
The city of Ivano-Frankivsk has been subjected to the heaviest Russian missile and drone bombardment of the war, executed using strategic, nuclear-capable Tu-95MS bombers. Four individuals were injured in the attack, including a child, an event that local mayor Roman Martsinkiv described as the largest "since the beginning of the full-scale invasion".
Three villages in the Ivano-Frankivsk region fell victim to the Russian war machine. A man lost his life and several others were wounded during a terrifying ten-hour missile and drone assault on Kyiv, with civilians bearing the brunt of the devastation.
Among those injured was a 15 year old girl. The strikes targeted the Artyom military plant and Zhulyany airport in Kyiv, but also impacted multiple districts - Holosiivskyi, Darnytskyi, Dniprovskyi, Obolonskyi, Sviatoshynskyi, Solomianskyi and Shevchenkivskyi - within the capital.
The entrance to the Lukianivska metro station, where people sought refuge during the nightmarish night, was damaged. A nursery school in Kyiv was set ablaze following a Russian missile attack, which also resulted in the city being enveloped in thick, harmful smoke. A dozen strikes hit Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, causing explosions to reverberate throughout the city.
In the Khmelnytskyi region, 20 houses were damaged by Russian strikes. However, Putin was left embarrassed by the extent of resistance and railway disruption caused by Ukrainian strikes. The most severely affected was Moscow's main international airport, Sheremetyevo, where Defence Ministry TV station Zvezda conceded: "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."
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