The time is just after 6pm in Kyiv and we are now closing the blog. Here is a summary of events.
Poland’s defence forces said an unknown object entered the country’s airspace Friday morning from the direction of Ukraine and then vanished off radars, and that all indications pointed to it being a Russian missile. There was no comment from Russian officials.
18 Ukrainian civilians are known to have died, and another 132 are injured, following a wave of Russian missile attacks. Rescue operations are still ongoing in the cities. In total, the Russian Federation launched 158 aerial targets over Ukraine – air defence forces shot down 27 drones and 87 cruise missiles.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the Kremlin’s forces used a wide variety of weapons, including ballistic and cruise missiles. He posted on X saying that “Russian terror must and will lose” following a night of missile strikes.
Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said Russia “apparently launched everything they have” against targets across Ukraine.
The British prime minister has posted his support for Ukraine on social media following the wave of Russian missile strikes overnight. Rishi Sunak said: “These widespread attacks on Ukraine’s cities show Putin will stop at nothing to achieve his aim of eradicating freedom and democracy.”
Ukrainian officials have urged the country’s western allies to provide it with more air defences to protect itself against aerial attacks like Friday’s one. Their appeals have come as signs of war fatigue strain efforts to keep support in place.
Russia has suffered huge human and material losses in Ukraine and its army will emerge weakened from the conflict, a senior German military figure said in an interview published on Friday. He said: “The Russian armed forces will emerge from this war weakened, both materially and in terms of personnel.”
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Poland says 'everything indicates' a Russian missile briefly entered its airspace on Friday morning
Poland’s defence forces said an unknown object entered the country’s airspace Friday morning from the direction of Ukraine and then vanished off radars, and that all indications pointed to it being a Russian missile, AP reports.
It was not immediately clear where the object disappeared from radar or in which direction it had been going. Troops were mobilised to identify and find it. There were no immediate reports of any explosion or casualties.
Poland’s defence chief, Gen Wiesław Kukuła said:
Everything indicates that a Russian missile intruded in Poland’s airspace. It was monitored by us on radars and left the airspace. We have confirmation of this on radars and from allies [in Nato].
Poland’s defence forces said the object penetrated about 40km (24 miles) into its airspace and left it after less than three minutes. The defence forces said both its radar and Nato radar confirmed that the object left Polish airspace.
Kukuła said steps were being taken to verify those findings. There was no comment from Russian officials.
The governor of Lublin province in eastern Poland, Krzysztof Komorski, told the Onet news portal that the object appeared on radars near the town of Hrubieszów, where a border crossing with Ukraine is located. Komorski said he had no information to indicate it landed in Lublin province.
Poland’s border with Ukraine is also the European Union and Nato border with Ukraine.
The prime minister, Donald Tusk, convened a meeting with the defence minister, military commanders and heads of national security bodies, followed by a meeting of the National Security Bureau. Tusk was also in contact with president Andrzej Duda, the supreme commander of Poland’s armed forces.
It was not clear whether the object that Poland reported was related to the barrage of missile attacks on Ukraine overnight.
Speaking on national television about the incident, Yuriy Ihnat, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Air Force, said:
As a result of such massive attacks, this can happen. The enemy is attacking our border territories, including in the west. This is another signal for our partners to strengthen the Ukrainian air defence.
This is not the first time an unauthorised object has entered Poland’s airspace from the direction of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion. In November 2022, two men were killed when a missile struck the village of Przewodów, a few kilometres from the border. Western officials said they believed a Ukrainian air defence missile went astray.
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