Polish and allied military aircraft were scrambled early Saturday after Russia launched a massive aerial assault on Ukraine including strikes that targeted near its western border with Poland.

Poland and NATO allies mobilized fighter planes and put ground forces on high alert early on October 5, as Kyiv said Russia launched a new wave of aerial attacks across Ukraine, including on the Lviv region,

At least three Russian drones were shot down by Polish and other Nato aircraft in Poland's airspace during overnight attacks on Ukraine, the Polish prime minister has said. Donald Tusk said Poland had recorded 19 drone incursions, with some flying deep enough to temporarily close four airports, including Warsaw's main hub Chopin.

The rockets made in its Herstal site and Évegnée Fort factory can be used against drones, with the laser-guided version targeting larger, high-altitude UAVs like Iranian-designed Shaheds, while their unguided siblings instead release thousands of steel balls upon detonation to take out swarms of smaller, low-altitude drones.

Russia fired more than 600 drones and missiles at targets across Ukraine in the early hours of Sunday morning - one of the largest barrages of the war.

Russian drone and missile strikes caused blackouts across large swaths of Ukraine, damaged residential buildings and injured at least 20 people in Kyiv, authorities said.