The Polish military scrambled fighter jets and placed air defense systems on high alert after drones crossed into Polish airspace during Russian strikes near Poland's border with Ukraine, Polish authorities said on September 10. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the military fired on the objects, while the Polish Defense Ministry said an operation was under way related to repeated violations of Polish airspace.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that his country's interceptor drones struck 150 Russian long-range attack and decoy drones in a single night. In his regular public address, Zelenskyy said Russia had launched a total of 810 drones in one wave, including over 400 Shahed loitering munitions. His tally indicates that nearly a fifth of the drone wave was downed that evening by interceptor drones - an emerging low-cost air defense that Ukraine is rushing to produce at scale.
Patriot batteries are comprised of radar and control systems, launcher stations, and interceptor missiles, making them one of the world's best air defense systems capable of intercepting a variety of threats.
"Russian aviation poses a threat not only to peaceful cities but also directly to the front line," Ukraine's 28th Mechanized Brigade explained in a post on the Telegram messaging app, adding that Russian planes, helicopters, and reconnaissance drones appear over infantry positions regularly.
An overnight Ukrainian drone attack on an oil depot near the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi has ignited a raging fire, as the two countries traded strikes at the end of one of the deadliest weeks in Ukraine in recent months.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that Germany is ready to buy US-made Patriot air defense systems for Ukraine amid ongoing Russian aerial attacks. He confirmed Germany's willingness to acquire additional systems to bolster Ukraine's defense during the Ukraine Recovery Conference.