An unidentified object crashed in a Polish village about 95 kilometers (60 miles) from the Ukrainian border early Thursday, causing an explosion, Polish authorities said, as Russia launched deadly longe-range attacks across Ukraine.
The projectile crashed in an undeveloped area near the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia in Lublin province, Poland’s army said. Polish police said residents reported hearing a powerful explosion.
Poland earlier reported scrambling fighter jets in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine, which hit large swathes of the country and killed at least eight people, including children, and left several people trapped under rubble.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it carried out a “massive strike using long-range precision weapons from land, air, and sea” as well as attack drones on military sites across Ukraine, in a statement posted to Telegram Thursday.
Poland’s army said the country’s air defenses observed at least a dozen missiles over western Ukraine, which posed a potential threat to Polish airspace.
It is not yet clear if the unidentified object that crashed in Poland was a Russian missile. But any potential Russian attack so deep into a NATO member’s territory would risk being perceived as an escalation in Moscow’s yearslong war on Ukraine.
Poland has routinely scrambled jets in response to Russian attacks on western Ukraine, though they have rarely entered its territory. NATO fighter jets shot down multiple Russian drones that violated Polish airspace last September, denouncing Moscow for “absolutely dangerous behavior.”
In November 2022, two people were killed after a Ukrainian air defense missile unintentionally landed in the Polish village of Przewodow, about four miles (6.4 kilometers) west of the border.
Russia’s overnight assault on Ukraine came one day after President Volodymyr Zelensky met US President Donald Trump at the White House and asked him to provide Ukraine with additional air defense systems.
The attacks – which come as Ukraine has seen its heaviest number of civilian casualties in one month since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 – killed at least one person in the capital Kyiv, and another person in Poltava region, central Ukraine, according to local authorities.
In the southern Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, six people were killed after a ballistic missile hit a home where a large family lived, Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city’s military administration, said on Telegram. Three children, including two girls aged 5 and 12 were among those killed, he said, calling it a “dark night.”
At least eight additional people had been wounded, Vilkul said, adding that the death toll could go up as emergency crews work to clear the damage.
Rescue workers were also trying to save people trapped under rubble after an attack on Lviv, near the Polish border, according to the city’s mayor Andriy Sadovyi. More than two dozen people were wounded, according to the region’s governor.
‘There are children in here’
Ukraine’s Air Force warned that Russia had launched waves of missiles in an alert to residents early Thursday local time.
Videos posted on social media showed families sheltering in crowded Kyiv metro stations, some bedding down on the floor beneath blankets or inside small tents.
Some of the most gruesome scenes from the aftermath of Thursday’s attack emerged in Kryvyi Rih, Zelensky’s hometown.
Graphic video from nearby Radushne village showed bodies strewn amid the rubble of a shattered building, with fires still burning.
Two unseen women could be heard speaking. “We’ve pulled one child out. There are still some lying over there,” one said.
“There are children here. There are many children,” the other said.
Hours before the attack, Zelensky said he had received a report from his air force that Russia was preparing a “massive attack” on all regions of the country.
“There is a high probability that the strike will be carried out tonight,” Zelensky warned.
Russian warehouse on fire
Also on Thursday, a warehouse for the Russian retailer Wildberries caught fire in the western city of Penza after a Ukrainian drone attack, regional governor Oleg Melnichenko said on Telegram. One person was wounded and about 200 people were evacuated from the site, Melnichenko said.
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Wildberries distribution centers, Russia’s Amazon equivalent, bringing Moscow’s war even closer to home by disrupting the lives and livelihoods of ordinary Russians.
Kyiv has claimed the Wildberries facilities are legitimate military targets because they supply Russia’s frontline troops in Ukraine, which Moscow denies.
Jonny Hallam contributed to this report.