Poland scrambles jets and closes airspace as spy chiefs warn Putin is plotting 'accidental' missile strikes on NATO allies

From the Newshound archive · first published 19 September 2026.

Spy chiefs across Western nations have established that Vladimir Putin is readying a campaign of missile and drone attacks on Ukraine's supporters, engineered to look unintentional and to neutralise NATO's ability to invoke collective defence. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told parliament that intelligence assessments point to a planned "stealth mobilisation" of around 300,000 troops, coupled with hybrid operations targeting critical European infrastructure. Overnight, Russia struck Kyiv with Oniks cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and roughly 160 drones, leaving more than 20 people injured and causing damage across eight regions. Britain, as one of Ukraine's principal backers, is considered among Putin's intended targets.

Poland scrambled fighter jets and shut its airports after a fast-moving Russian drone came down close to the Polish border, narrowly missing former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Tusk cautioned that the planned strikes would be 'quote-unquote accidental in nature, intended to paralyse or at least weaken the resolve of NATO states' to invoke collective defence provisions.

Britain's chief of the defence staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, described this as 'the most dangerous time I have known in my 35-year career'.