Putin planning ‘rocket and drone strikes against Nato countries’

Putin plans to launch hybrid attacks using rockets and drones targeting countries supporting Ukraine, Poland’s Prime Minister said.

Countries flanking the war-torn Ukraine continue to be on high alert after repeated Russian attacks near the Nato border.

The protracted Russia-Ukraine war has already spilt across the borders, with Poland bearing the brunt of the incursions after Russian drone threats.

Airports in eastern parts of the country closed yesterday, and fighter jets were scrambled again after reports of explosions. Poland’s southeastern airspace reportedly remains closed to aircraft today.

Now Poland’s premier, Donald Tusk, has issued a warning over what Putin might be planning for those who support Ukraine.

He said Russia will pretend that drone and rocket attacks on European countries are ‘accidental,’ news agency AP reports.

His goal will be to ‘paralyse or at least weaken the motivation of Nato countries,’ Tusk told the Polish parliament in a speech.

And Poland, a key player in the military alliance, is on the potential firing line because of its proximity to Ukraine, Tusk suggests.

Tusk said: ‘There is a real risk that drones or other types of projectiles will enter the territory of one or several countries on the eastern flank and even cause destruction.

‘The official narration will be that it’s an accident and there is no reason for Nato to think about a response.’

Tusk has been sounding the alarm over increased threats from Russia for months.

US secret services like the CIA, Nato and Ukrainian security services have provided him with intelligence, Tusk revealed.

In Ukraine, Russia unleashed attacks across the country yesterday as the war entered its 1,666th day.

An industrial park in Kyiv was struck, killing at least one person, along with a missile attack on a non-residential building.

Meanwhile in Russia, people are heading to the polls in the first parliamentary elections since the Ukraine war began in February 2022.

Russia is also forcing elections to be held in the four regions it has annexed from Ukraine following the invasion, a move Ukraine has labelled illegal.

At home, Putin is facing falling popularity underpinned by Russia’s economic woes and fuel crisis, and the ongoing war.

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