Poland closes airports after Russia launches hundreds of drones at Ukraine

Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in a large-scale attack across Ukraine overnight on Wednesday, killing at least 10 people and injuring dozens more.

The strikes targeted energy and transport sites, as well as civilian infrastructure in several regions, according to authorities.

At least 46 people were injured in Kharkiv, the regional governor said, as firefighters worked to battle blazes and evacuate residents.

Drones attacked several city districts, hitting at least 16 residential buildings, an ambulance station, a school and other civilian infrastructure, Kharkiv governor Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.

It was the third night in a row that the Kharkiv region was met with large-scale Russian attacks.

In Ternopil in western Ukraine, 10 people died after two nine-story residential buildings were hit, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. Twelve children were among 37 injured there, he added.

Officials said that in one building, the upper floors were torn away, causing a high number of casualties. Rescuers were still working to retrieve people from the rubble in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Western allies to increase pressure on Russia in a post on X. "Every brazen attack against ordinary life proves that the pressure on Russia is still insufficient," he wrote, adding "effective sanctions and assistance for Ukraine can change this."

Zelenskyy said over 470 drones and 48 missiles were launched.

An energy facility was struck in the Lviv region, authorities said, with no injuries reported.

According to Maksym Kozytskyi, head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration, the attack also damaged a wood-processing plant and a warehouse, triggering a fire at one of the sites.

Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi reported that civilian warehouses storing tyres caught fire within the city, and emergency responders were on site.

Poland closes two airports and deploys jets

Ternopil, located about 200 kilometres from the Polish border, is situated away from the main frontlines in western Ukraine, where many people from the east and south came for relative safety.

In response to Wednesday's attacks, Poland temporarily closed its Lublin and Rzeszów airports, according to the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA).

The airports were closed to accommodate the deployment of fighter jets to ensure the safety of Polish airspace.

"Quick-reaction fighter pairs and an early warning aircraft have been scrambled, and ground-based air defence and radar surveillance systems have reached the highest state of readiness," the Polish operational command said in a post on X.

Two Eurofighter Typhoon jets and two F-16s were also scrambled in Romania when a drone entered the NATO member’s airspace during the Russian attacks, Romania’s Ministry of National Defence said.