NATO scrambles warplanes after Putin deploys nuclear-capable strategic bombers
Vladimir Putin unleashed Tu-95MS nuclear-capable strategic bombers close to Ukraine’s borders with Nato, raising an alarm in neighbouring Poland.
The military alliance was forced to scramble fighter jets to defend against a possible attack amid fears Russia was dropping missiles near the border.
Poland’s armed forces operation command headquarters said: ‘Attention, due to the activity of long-range aviation of Russia, striking targets located, in particular, in the west of Ukraine, military aviation has begun to operate in the airspace of Poland.’
Ground-based air defences and radar reconnaissance systems were also ‘put on alert’ in the early hours of this morning.
At least two Russian bombers were reported to have taken off from Olenya air base in the Arctic.
The Tu-95MS fleet – known by the Nato reporting name of Bear-H -is part of Russia’s nuclear-capable long-range bombers and plays a central role in its second-strike capacity.
The attack comes despite Putin insisting that he wants peace ‘as soon as possible’.
The Kremlin appears to have ramped up strikes on Ukrainian territory as negotiations for a peace deal continue.
Over the weekend, it unleashed the largest-ever fleet of drones on Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion three years ago.
All of Ukraine was under air raid alerts this morning, starting at around 3.50am after the country’s air force warned of a Russian missile.
Explosions were heard across Kyiv, Zhytomyr, and Sumy, as well as in the Cherkasy region.
Drones were also used in Russia’s onslaught with several people suffering injuries.
A 44-year-old woman was injured and several houses damaged in the Kyiv region, Mykola Kalashnyk, governor of the region that surrounds the Ukrainian capital, said on Tuesday.
‘She received wounds to her leg, she has been hospitalised,’ he said.
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