Russian missile crashes in Poland as Putin unleashes barrage across Ukraine, killing 8

A suspected Russian missile crashed inside Poland on Thursday as Moscow launched one of its largest overnight attacks on Ukraine, killing at least eight people, including children, and injuring dozens across the country.The unidentified object crashed in an undeveloped area near the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia in Poland's eastern Lublin province, around 90 kilometres from the Ukrainian border. Polish authorities said residents reported hearing a powerful explosion after the object landed.Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the incident appeared to involve a Russian missile, although authorities had yet to determine exactly what type it was."It looks like it was a Russian missile, but we don't have 100% certainty exactly what kind of missile," Tusk said. He added that Poland had been prepared to intercept it, saying: "We were ready to shoot it down."Poland had earlier scrambled fighter jets after Russia launched a massive wave of missile and drone strikes across Ukraine. Tusk later said the object entered Polish airspace during the assault.Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also said a Russian cruise missile had crossed into Polish airspace during the attack, although it was not immediately clear whether he was referring to the object that crashed in Lublin province.Across Ukraine, Russia fired more than 70 missiles, many of them ballistic, and over 280 attack drones overnight, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukrainian forces intercepted more than 260 drones, but the barrage still caused widespread destruction across Kyiv and several other regions, including Dnipro, Lviv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Vinnytsia, Cherkasy and Ivano-Frankivsk.The deadliest strike hit the Dnipropetrovsk region, where six people, including a six-year-old girl and boys aged 11 and 17, were killed after a ballistic missile destroyed a home. Zelenskyy said the children's parents also died in the attack, while two other children were rescued alive from the rubble.Elsewhere, one person was killed in a drone strike in the neighbouring Poltava region, while a 31-year-old man died in a ballistic missile attack on Kyiv. Lviv was also heavily hit, with at least 30 people injured and more than 20 residential buildings, a school and two kindergartens damaged.Russia's Defence Ministry said it had targeted Ukrainian air bases, arms factories and military logistics facilities. It also claimed to have intercepted 258 Ukrainian drones overnight as Kyiv continued its long-range strikes inside Russian territory.Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.