Poland's scrambling of aircraft comes amid heightened tensions across the alliance's eastern flank over Russia's aggression. It follows another NATO member, Romania, announcing it would implement an Iron Dome defense system similar to that used by Israel.

Russia has intensified its bombing campaign on Ukraine, launching hundreds of drones and missiles overnight into Saturday.

NATO is deploying F-35s over Poland to deter Russian threats near Ukraine's border. The mission is the first F-35 operation there under NATO command.

Paweł Wroński, the spokesperson for the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has stated that Warsaw will prepare an "adequate" response to Russia’s decision to close the Polish consulate in Kaliningrad from 29 August,

Moscow has ordered the closure of Poland’s Consulate in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad in a tit-for-tat move as relations between the countries remain strained over a Warsaw fire that Poland alleges was Russian sabotage.

Poland and the Baltic states also withdrew from the Ottawa Convention despite pleas from some leaders to maintain decorum in the face of Russian aggression.

A Canadian teenager sentenced in Poland last year to 20 months in prison for spying for Russia could be released early under certain conditions, a Polish court said on Tuesday.

In another deadly escalation of its invasion, Russia launched a powerful overnight barrage of missiles and drones on western Ukraine, killing at least two people and wounding over a dozen more. The strikes targeted Chernivtsi,