MOSCOW, January 13. /TASS/. Poland informed the population that the republic scrambled its own and allied warplanes near the border with Ukraine amid Russia’s intensive aviation activity.

The Polish Air Force observed "intensive long-range aviation activity of the Russian Federation, which is related to carrying out attacks on Ukrainian territory," Poland’s Operational Command wrote on X (former Twitter). In this context, a decision was made "to activate Polish and allied aircraft <...> in order to ensure the protection of Polish airspace," the command explained.

The Ukrainian armed forces fired two cluster munition rockets and Czech-made rockets on December 30 at downtown areas of Belgorod, a city of 340,000 people located about 40 kilometers from the Russian-Ukrainian border. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the attack, which killed 25 people and left over 100 others wounded, was "a terrorist act" against civilians as he pledged retaliatory measures. On December 31, the Russian Defense Ministry announced a retaliatory strike on military targets in Ukraine, particularly in the city of Kharkov, which caused Ukraine to suffer significant losses.