NATO has scrambled fighter jets in response to a savage missile and drone strike from Vladimir Putin on Ukraine – just two days before Christmas.
Polish and allied war planes were deployed near the Ukrainian border amid the hellish onslaught which left one girl and a pensioner dead.
Poland’s operational command said: “Fighter jets have been scrambled, and ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems placed on a state of readiness.”
The vicious attack included more than 600 drones and dozens of missiles, and primarily targeted Ukraine’s energy sector.
At least two have been killed in the strikes, including a 76-year-old woman and a four-year-old girl.
So far 10 people have been reportedly been injured, three of which are children.
Explosions were heard in several Ukrainian cities during the large-scale assault.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said Moscow branded the sick attacks “systematic”.
Poland said the Nato fighter jet operations were “preventive” and “aimed at securing and protecting the airspace, particularly in areas adjacent to the threatened regions”.
Warsaw said: “The Operational Command of the Armed Forces is monitoring the situation on an ongoing basis, and subordinate forces and assets remain ready for an immediate response.”
Nato state Romania also issued an alert during Putin’s barbaric onslaught.
Two Romanian counties were on the receiving end of overnight warning alerts due to the depraved blitz.
Bucharest said: “During the night of 22–23 December, drone attacks were carried out by Russian forces against Ukrainian port infrastructure in the vicinity of the Romanian border.”
Huge blasts thundered across multiple regions in Ukraine such as Kharkiv, Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk, Cherkasy, and Khmelnytskyi.
There were mass power cuts across the country which affected several regions including Kyiv.
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