update(1950ET): Sky News is citing Ukraine’s air force to say that Russian drones have entered the airspace of Poland, threatening the city of Zamosc – which lies some 40 miles from the Ukrainian border. Some initial sources are citing a ‘wave’ of drones, but this remains unclear. Per Reuters:

Poland placed its air defenses on the highest state of readiness after Ukraine’s air force warned that Russian drones had crossed into Polish airspace, according to early reports.

The Polish Armed Forces said early Wednesday local time that all necessary procedures were activated to secure national airspace as Russia carried out large-scale overnight strikes on Ukraine.

“Polish and allied aircraft are operating in our airspace, and ground-based air defense and radar systems have reached the highest level of readiness,” the Operational Command said. It described the measures as preventive and aimed at protecting citizens in regions bordering Ukraine.

However, the initial Polish military statement itself did not specify a Russian breach of Poland’s airspace:

❗️Uwaga, w nocy z 9 na 10 września 2025 r. Federacja Rosyjska wykonuje kolejne zmasowane uderzenia na obiekty znajdujące sie na terytorium Ukrainy.

W celu zapewnienia bezpieczeństwa polskiej przestrzeni powietrznej Dowódca Operacyjny RSZ uruchomił wszystkie niezbędne procedury.… pic.twitter.com/fPscFKE7Cx

— Dowództwo Operacyjne RSZ (@DowOperSZ) September 9, 2025

— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 9, 2025

This is not a first time that Russian drones have breached Polish airspace, prompting fighter jets to be scrambled, or else searches for crash or landing spots within the Polish side of the border. Some unconfirmed reports have said there have been intercepts over Poland.

Getting the attention of US Congressmen and likely the White House:

Repeated violations of NATO airspace by Russian drones are fair warning that Vladimir Putin is testing our resolve to protect Poland and the Baltic nations. After the carnage Putin continues to visit on Ukraine, these incursions cannot be ignored.

— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) September 9, 2025

And open source monitoring sites are noticing an uptick in allied activity over eastern Poland…

Another Notice-to-Airmen (NOTAM) has been issued for Eastern Poland by the Polish Civil Aviation Authority within the last few minutes, this time for Lublin Airport, stating that the airport is unavailable due to “unplanned military activity related to ensuring state security.”

The F-35 appears to be linking with the Dutch Airbus A330 for an aerial-refueling over Eastern Poland. pic.twitter.com/wTn2weXFLd

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) September 9, 2025

If indeed there has been waves of Russian UAVs breaching the Polish border, we can expect many jets from NATO to scramble, but as yet it’s unclear what’s going on in eastern European skies.

A NATO Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT), operated by the Royal Netherlands Air Force, is currently hurrying towards Eastern Poland, likely towing additional fighter aircraft from bases in Germany. pic.twitter.com/pxQZA0jgBA

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) September 9, 2025

* * *

This coming winter could be one of the harshest yet for Ukrainians, given Russia has greatly ramped up it’s nationwide drone and missile attacks, often targeting power and energy infrastructure – likely in response to Ukraine’s own sustained cross border attacks on oil depots inside Russia.

Overnight, Ukraine’s energy ministry said Russian forces struck a thermal power generation facility in the Kyiv region, which suffered some local blackouts and gas outages as a result. While much of the east of Ukraine has seen frequent mass outages throughout the war, this is a more rare occurrence for the capital area.

“The goal is obvious: to cause even more hardship to the peaceful population of Ukraine, to leave Ukrainian homes, hospitals, kindergartens and schools without light and heat,” the ministry wrote on Telegram.

This followed on the heels of the single largest aerial attack in three-and-half years of conflict, which resulted in a serious blaze at a government building (offices of the cabinet ministers) on Sunday. Russia’s defense ministry confirmed that it targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure in this newest strike.

Ukraine’s electricity grid operator Ukrenergo later said several power sites for the country were hit. “Emergency repair work is ongoing, and most consumers had their power restored by Monday morning,” it said.

Gas infrastructure was also damaged, resulting in over 8,000 properties in eight settlements suffering disconnect from their supply.

Serhiy Kovalenko, CEO of the Ukrainian energy company Yasno, wrote on X. “For several weeks now, the enemy has been striking energy system facilities in various regions.” He further warned, “Of course, no one knows what will happen this autumn, but given the recent strikes, there is no particular cause for optimism.”

Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller is also warning of a cold winter full of needless suffering for the EU. Russian media carried his fresh comments as follows:

Citing data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), Gazprom said that as of end-August only two-thirds of the gas withdrawn from European storage facilities last winter had been replenished, after five months of injections. The shortfall of 18.9 billion cubic meters was the second largest on record for that date.

Gazprom, once the EU’s main supplier, reduced its exports to the bloc dramatically three years ago, following Western sanctions and the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines. Russian gas exports accounted for 40% of the bloc’s total supply before the escalation of the conflict and the imposition of unilateral sanctions by Brussels.

“We are now seeing the situation steadily worsening. This is what we have been talking about. Another year will pass, and where else can it go? If there is a normal cold winter, this will become a real problem,” Miller told Russia’s TASS news agency on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum on Sunday.

This summer has seen several Ukrainian attacks on LNG pipeline infrastructure going to Europe. Also, this weekend another major Russian crude refinery was on fire after direct Ukrainian drone strikes.

The attack unleashed two active fires at the major Ryazan refinery, southeast of Moscow, with witnesses hearing explosions early and overnight last Friday, after which large flames and thick smoke were spotted above the southern outskirts of the city.