Poland orders mass evacuations as Russian invasion fears soar

 Poland is evacuating towns amid escalating fears of a Russian attack on NATO. Poland was forced to evacuate border crossings in Hrubieszów and Dorohusk on Thursday and put military jets on full alert, after fresh Russian strikes on western Ukraine close to the Polish frontier, the country's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.

The crossings were evacuated for around 30 minutes at about midday local time, with traffic returning to normal shortly afterwards. Tusk addressed the evacuations during a press conference in Warsaw after talks with Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev. He said the situation required consistent action and warned European partners to prepare for a difficult period in the coming months. Tusk warned that Poland "must prepare well for the coming months".

Tusk said: "During my talks with Prime Minister Radev, Russia again attacked Ukraine near the Polish border. We evacuated the border crossings in Hrubieszów and Dorohusk," Tusk said.

"This situation means we must act consistently and warn our European partners that this is a difficult time and that we must prepare well for the coming months."

Tusk added that "autumn and winter could be truly critical". Ukraine's air force said Russia's overnight barrage involved an unspecified number of hypersonic and ballistic missiles, 282 drones and other weapons.

Two people were killed, including one in a maternity hospital car park, while six others died in an attack on a farm in Kharkiv.

Several school classes were suspended in Romania this morning after a drone was spotted over Suceava County in the country's northeast.

The drone was found in a forest near the town of Solca, which sits roughly 340 miles southwest from the Russian border via Ukraine.

The Ministry of Defence says the drone was in Romania's national airspace for approximately four minutes before falling in the third-smallest town in Romania.

The ministry noted there was no fire at the site where the drone fell and there were no casualties or material damage.

Russia continues to ramp up its threats, with the Moldovan President Maia Sandu confirming that four Russian drones violated Moldova's airspace last night, with at least one exploding in the north of the country.

"Russia's war endangers all of Europe. We condemn this war and stand with Ukraine," Sandu wrote on X.