NATO member Poland scrambled fighter jets and an early warning aircraft overnight after Russia renewed its efforts to hack at Ukraine’s critical infrastructure overnight.
Why It Matters
Moscow’s drones and missiles entering NATO airspace have not been treated as attacks on the alliance so far, although roughly 20 drones crossed into Poland in September last year in what the country’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, said was a deliberate incident. Russia denied intentionally targeting the country.
Poland has also reported an uptick in smuggling balloons crossing into its airspace from Russian ally Belarus since the start of this year. Polish officials have described the balloons as a “hybrid warfare” tactic, a term referring to a range of activities stopping short of open fighting, like cyberattacks, information campaigns or the targeting of vulnerable infrastructure.
It is a fairly regular occurrence for Poland to quickly get fighter jets airborne to shield the country’s airspace when Russia launches large-scale aerial attacks on Ukraine, particularly when Moscow targets areas close to the Polish border.
What To Know
The Polish military did not confirm any airspace violations spilling over from Ukraine early on Tuesday, but said its ground-based air defense systems and radar systems were on high alert.
“These actions are of a preventive nature and are aimed at securing and protecting the airspace, particularly in areas adjacent to the threatened regions,” Poland’s operational command said in a statement.
Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday that Russia had attacked energy facilities across the country overnight, injuring nine people. Russia fired more than 70 missiles, including hard-to-intercept ballistic missiles, and 450 strike drones, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Russia targeted Odesa, in Ukraine’s south, and the central regions of Dnipropetrovsk and Vinnytsia, authorities said. Vinnytsia Governor Natalia Zabolotna said the area “came under massive enemy attack” and critical infrastructure had been hit.
Damage was reported in the northeastern Sumy and Kharkiv regions, as well as Kyiv.
Several fires broke out in high-rise buildings and warehouses in the capital and drone debris fell on a kindergarten, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said Russia had “significantly damaged” equipment at its thermal power plants. It is the ninth “massive attack” on the company’s thermal power facilities since October 2025, DTEK said.
President Donald Trump had said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed “not to fire into Kyiv and various towns for a week” as temperatures plunged. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov separately said Trump had “made a personal request to Putin” to not strike the Ukrainian capital until February 1 but did not elaborate further.
Ukraine’s residents have contended with temperatures dipping below -20 C, or -4 F. Ukraine’s energy minister, Denys Shmyhal, said temperatures in some areas had sunk to -25 C—equivalent to -13 F.
“Taking advantage of the coldest days of winter to terrorize people is more important to Russia than turning to diplomacy,” Zelensky said.
Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said Putin had “waited for the temperatures to drop and stockpiled drones and missiles to continue his genocidal attacks against the Ukrainian people.”
“Neither anticipated diplomatic efforts in Abu Dhabi this week nor his promises to the United States kept him from continuing terror against ordinary people in the harshest winter,” Sybiha said. Russia’s Defense Ministry had not publicly commented on the overnight strikes at the time of writing.
A fresh round of U.S.-pushed peace talks will start later this week, a slight delay to negotiations that were expected to kick off on Sunday. Ukrainian and Russian delegations will meet alongside U.S. officials in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday and Thursday.
Kirill Dmitriev, the Kremlin’s special envoy and head of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, met with Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and White House adviser Josh Gruenbaum in Florida on Saturday. Witkoff called the discussions “productive and constructive.”
What People Are Saying
“Without pressure on Russia, this war will not end,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday.
