Polish and NATO forces scrambled to intercept Russian drones which entered Poland’s airspace early on Tuesday night and early on Wednesday, marking their first direct military engagement with Moscow since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.

Both Polish and NATO jets responded to the violation of Polish airspace, which occurred during a Russian aerial attack on Ukraine. “There was an unprecedented violation of Polish airspace by drone-type objects,” the Polish military operational command said in a statement. “This is an act of aggression that posed a real threat to the safety of our citizens.”

Poland temporarily shut down at least three of its airports, including Warsaw’s Chopin Airport, the country’s largest, and advised people to stay at home while the operation continues. People in risk-prone areas in eastern regions of Poland bordering Ukraine, including the capital of Warsaw, have been told to take shelter.

“There is no reason to claim that we are in a state of war… but the situation is significantly more dangerous than all previous ones,” said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He added that the prospect of a large military conflict is “closer than at any time since the Second World War”.

The Russian drone incursion comes just three days after Moscow hit the main government building in Ukraine’s Kyiv. That attack also damaged the European Union and British Council buildings in the Ukrainian capital.

So, is NATO now inching towards a war with Russia?

What has happened in Poland?

On Wednesday morning, the Polish military said it had shot down “drone-like objects” which entered its airspace during a Russian aerial attack on neighbouring Ukraine.

According to Polish officials, the drones crossed the border amid a wave of Russian aerial strikes targeting western Ukraine, triggering an immediate military response, which was joined by Polish F-16 fighter jets, Dutch F-35, and Italian AWACS surveillance planes.

One of the drones struck a residential building in Wyryki, eastern Poland. Nobody was injured, according to the Reuters news agency.

This is the first time that NATO-allied forces have engaged Russian military assets since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Tusk called Russia’s violation of Polish airspace by a “huge” number of Russian drones a “large-scale provocation”. He added that the NATO forces had shot down the ones that posed any threat.

Later in the day, Tusk informed Poland’s parliament that the first violation of Polish airspace occurred at about 11:30pm (21:30 GMT) on Tuesday, and the last was reported at 6:30am (04:30 GMT) on Wednesday.

He added that preliminary reports suggest there were 19 airspace violations in total, with a “significant number” of drones crossing into Poland.

“We are ready to repel such provocations. The situation is serious, and no one doubts that we must prepare for various scenarios,” Tusk said in his statement. “All our allies are taking the situation very seriously. We have not recorded any casualties.”

Tusk also convened an emergency meeting with his top cabinet ministers and stated that his office was in contact with NATO officials.

Could this drag NATO into Russia’s war in Ukraine?

The incident has thrust NATO’s collective defence principles into the spotlight. Being a NATO member, a drone attack on Poland could trigger Article 5 of the NATO treaty.

That article forms the cornerstone of the alliance’s collective defence strategy. It states that an “armed attack” against one or more members in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against all, obligating allies to take action, including the use of armed force, to restore security.

Article 5 is not triggered automatically by such an attack, but can be initiated by an affected nation. It requires a consensus among NATO’s 30 member states that the incident meets the threshold of an attack warranting collective action.

Since the treaty was first signed in 1949, Article 5 has been invoked only once, following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US.

Will Poland initiate Article 5?

Not quite yet. Tusk said Poland will invoke Article 4 of the treaty, under which a nation can request a formal consultation within the alliance if it believes its security has been threatened. This would serve as a political precursor to Article 5 deliberations.

Historically, Article 4 has been invoked only seven times since NATO’s creation; the last time was by Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia in 2022 immediately after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

While Tusk said he appreciates expressions of solidarity, “the words are not enough” and Poland will request “much greater” support from its allies.

How has the EU responded to this incident?

The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, vice president of the European Commission, said the incident marked an escalation of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“We must raise the cost on Moscow, strengthen support for Ukraine, and invest in Europe’s defence,” she said in a statement posted on X. “The EU plays a major role and we will support initiatives like the eastern border shield defence line.”

Kallas said the EU stood in “full solidarity with Poland” and called the Russian drone intrusion “the most serious European airspace violation by Russia since the war began, and indications suggest it was intentional, not accidental”.

EU’s defence commissioner, Andrius Kubilius, also emphasised the need for a “drone wall” along its shared borders. “Once again Russia tests frontier states, EU & NATO,” Kubilius wrote in a post on X. “We shall work together with member states, frontier countries and Ukraine. Russia will be stopped.”

How has Ukraine responded?

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, warned that Moscow was continuing to “push the boundaries of what is possible” by aiming drones at Poland.

“If [Russia] does not encounter a strong reaction, it remains at the new level of escalation,” Zelenskyy said, adding that 15 regions of Ukraine had been targeted overnight in a “massive” attack by 415 drones of various types and more than 40 cruise and ballistic missiles.

“The Russians must feel the consequences. Russia must feel that the war cannot be expanded and will have to be ended,” said the Ukrainian president.

What else is Russia doing right now?

The violation of Polish airspace by the Russian drones comes as Moscow ramps up its attacks on Kyiv, stalls ceasefire talks and plans military exercises in neighbouring Belarus.

Poland said it would close its border with Belarus on Thursday, at midnight (22:00 GMT), in advance of an upcoming military drill.

Russia and Belarus’s large-scale military exercises, called the “Zapad” drills – meaning “west” in Russian – typically involve thousands of troops, tanks, aircraft and live-fire operations across western regions. The drill is a particular security concern for neighbouring NATO member states Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

“On Friday, Russian-Belarusian manoeuvres, very aggressive from a military doctrine perspective, begin in Belarus, very close to the Polish border,” Tusk told a government meeting in Poland.

Belarus’s defence minister said this year’s Zapad would include drills for the possible use of nuclear weapons and the Russian-made, intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik missile.

Past Zapad drills have prompted concerns in the West, most notably in 2021, when Russian troops deployed in Belarus for exercises stayed for longer than expected and then spearheaded one part of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

India, which has been hit by United States President Donald Trump with additional trade tariffs for buying Russian oil, is also expected to join the seven-day military drill. Trump is now also pushing the EU to levy a 100 percent trade tariff on India – and has reportedly offered to match this if it agrees.

Despite sustained diplomatic engagement for months as well as pressure from the US, the gap between Moscow and Kyiv shows little sign of narrowing, particularly on issues such as territorial concessions and post-war security arrangements.

OREM, Utah (AP) — Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump who played an influential role in rallying young Republican voters, was shot and killed Wednesday at a Utah college event in what the governor called a political assassination carried out from a rooftop.

“This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation,” said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. “I want to be very clear this is a political assassination.”

Authorities did not immediately identify a motive but the circumstances of the shooting drew renewed attention to an escalating threat of political violence in the United States that in the last several years has cut across the ideological spectrum. The assassination drew bipartisan condemnation, but a national reckoning over ways to prevent political grievances from manifesting as deadly violence seemed elusive.

Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.” A single shot rings out and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators are heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away. The Associated Press was able to confirm the videos were taken at Sorensen Center courtyard on the Utah Valley University campus.

Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit political organization. Immediately before the shooting, Kirk was taking questions from an audience member about mass shootings and gun violence.

“Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” the person asked. Kirk responded, “Too many.”

The questioner followed up: “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?”

“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk asked.

Then a single shot rang out. The shooter, who Cox pledged would be held accountable in a state with the death penalty, wore dark clothing and fired from a building roof some distance away to the courtyard where the event took place.

Some 3,000 people were in attendance, according to a statement from the Utah Department of Public Safety, which also said the university police department had six officers working the event along with Kirk’s own security detail.

The death was announced on social media by Trump, who praised the 31-year-old Kirk, the co-founder and CEO of the youth organization Turning Point USA, as “Great, and even Legendary.” Later Wednesday, he released a recorded video from the White House in which he called Kirk a “martyr for truth and freedom” and blamed the rhetoric of the “radical left” for the killing.

The shooting drew swift condemnation across the political aisle as Democratic officials joined Trump, who ordered flags lowered to half-staff and issued a presidential proclamation, and Republican allies of Kirk in decrying the violence.

“The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible,” Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who last March hosted Kirk on his podcast, posted on X.

“The murder of Charlie Kirk breaks my heart. My deepest sympathies are with his wife, two young children, and friends,” said Gabrielle Giffords, the former Democratic congresswoman who was wounded in a 2011 shooting in her Arizona district.

The shooting appeared poised to become part of a spike of political violence that has touched a range of ideologies and representatives of both major parties. The attacks include the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband at their house in June, the firebombing of a Colorado parade to demand Hamas release hostages, and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvania’s governor, who is Jewish, in April. The most notorious of these events is the shooting of Trump during a campaign rally last year.

Despite early misgivings, Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in 2016. Kirk served as a personal aide to Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, during the general election campaign.

Soon, Kirk was a regular presence on cable TV, where he leaned into the culture wars and heaped praise on the then-president. Trump and his son were equally effusive and often spoke at Turning Point conferences.

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Richer and Sherman reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and Michael Biesecker, Brian Slodysko, Lindsay Whitehurst and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.

Conservative activist and Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk died Wednesday after he was shot at an event at Utah Valley University. He was 31 years old.

A suspect has not been identified, and state authorities said Wednesday evening a “manhunt” for the shooter is still in progress. Two people who were taken into custody earlier were not tied to the shooting and were later released.

Utah Valley University police said they were going “building to building” to evacuate people. 

President Trump posted on Truth Social: “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!”

Kirk was participating in an event at the Orem, Utah, school as part of his organization’s “The American Comeback Tour” when he was attacked. 

The university said in a statement shared to social media that a shot was fired at Kirk shortly after 12 p.m. local time, and he was hit. A single shot was fired, two law enforcement sources told CBS News. 

Video of the incident showed Kirk speaking to a large crowd at an outdoor “Prove Me Wrong” debate, where he invites students to challenge his political and cultural views, when the shot rings out.

Elected officials on both sides of the aisle had swiftly condemned the attack on Kirk and denounced acts of political violence.