Europe has entered a ‘pre-war era’ and is unprepared for what Putin will do if he defeats Ukraine, Polish PM warns as NATO planes are dispatched to protect the country’s airspace.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Europe was now in a “pre-war era” and warned that Ukraine’s defeat by Russia would only embolden Vladimir Putin.

“I know it seems devastating, especially for younger generations, but we have to mentally get used to the arrival of a new era. The pre-war era,” he said in a speech to foreign journalists.

“I don’t want to scare anyone, but war is no longer a concept of the past. This is real and it started over two years ago.

“We are living through the most critical moment since the end of the Second World War… literally, all scenarios are possible,” he concluded.

His warning comes as Russia launches another large-scale attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with a massive barrage of drones and airstrikes hitting regions across the country overnight, kyiv officials have claimed.

The bombing also prompted Poland to deploy its own fighter jets to protect its airspace from any wayward drones, missiles or bombers.

Last week, Warsaw demanded an explanation from Moscow after one of its missiles briefly strayed into Polish airspace during a major attack on Ukraine, prompting the NATO member to activate F-16 fighter jets.

The Romanian Defense Ministry also announced that an investigation had been opened after fragments appearing to come from a drone were identified on Thursday evening on its territory, in an agricultural area of ​​Braila county, near the border with Romania. ‘Ukraine.

She did not provide further details, although since the start of the large-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, NATO member Romania has repeatedly confirmed the presence of drone fragments on its territory.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, warnings of air raids across the country continued through the night, with strikes targeting 10 separate regions, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said in a statement on Telegram.

The Ukrainian Air Force reported that 60 Shahed drones and 39 missiles of different types were sighted across the country, of which 58 drones and 26 missiles were ultimately shot down by air defenses.

Ukraine’s state grid operator Ukrenergo said the attack deliberately targeted energy infrastructure, including thermal and hydropower plants in the central and western regions.

DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private electricity operator, also said three of its thermal power plants were damaged in the attack.

Elsewhere, five people were injured in the attack in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, local governor Serhii Lysak said. Among the injured was a five-year-old girl.

Putin reiterated earlier this week that Moscow has no intention of attacking any NATO country, accusing European leaders such as Tusk of fomenting fear of a Russian invasion that will never justify sending new weapons in Ukraine.

But he also promised that his forces would shoot down any F-16 fighter jets that Western countries supplied to Ukraine, adding that any NATO planes used for operations in Ukraine would be “legitimate targets,” even if they are based in a third country. aerodrome.

“We have no aggressive intentions towards (NATO) states,” Putin said, according to a Kremlin transcript released Thursday.

“The idea that we are attacking another country – Poland, the Baltics and the Czechs are also afraid – is completely absurd. It’s just nonsense.

“If they supply F-16s, and they talk about it and apparently train pilots, it will not change the situation on the battlefield. We will destroy the planes just like we destroy tanks today , armored vehicles and other equipment.

“Of course, if they are used from third country airfields, they become legitimate targets for us, wherever they are,” he concluded.

In his remarks yesterday, Putin commented earlier today to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba that the plane is expected to arrive in Ukraine in the near future.

Ukraine, engaged in a full-fledged war against Russia for more than two years, has been seeking F-16s for many months.

Belgium, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands are among the countries that have committed to donating F-16s.

Meanwhile, a coalition of NATO countries has promised to help train Ukrainian pilots how to use them.

But Putin said the West was simply using the false threat of a Russian invasion of a NATO state to justify strengthening its war capabilities and providing additional aid to Ukraine.

The Russian president said that Western trumpeting that they perceive aggression from Moscow was just “another way to deceive your population and make them pay additional costs, to force them to bear this burden on his shoulders, that’s all.”

His visit to Russia’s Torzhok air base coincided with nuclear war exercises in Siberia, as soldiers from a Yars strategic missile launcher regiment in the Irkutsk region trained to repel an attack by groups of subversion as part of a military crisis exercise.

“The Yars regiment took combat patrol routes during a staff exercise,” the Russian Defense Ministry said, releasing footage of the war exercises.

“This will change positions on the ground and disperse missile battalions that pass through contaminated areas.

“Particular attention is paid to repressing attacks by subversion groups.”

Yars missiles currently constitute the main element of the land component of the Russian strategic nuclear force.

Mach 25 missiles have a range of up to 7,500 miles, enabling a strike on the United States.