New Delhi, Sept. 13 -- Polish and allied aircraft were deployed in a "preventive" operation in Poland's airspace Saturday because of a threat of drone strikes in neighbouring areas of Ukraine, and the airport in the eastern Polish city of Lublin was closed, authorities said.

The alert came after Russian drones "repeatedly" violated Poland's airspace after crossing over from neighbouring Ukraine, prompting the country to scramble military jets, shut a major airport in its capital on Wednesday.

The Polish military's operational command posted on X on Saturday afternoon that ground-based air defence and reconnaissance systems were on high alert. It stressed that "these actions are preventive in nature," and were aimed at securing Poland's ...