NATO scrambled fighter jets in Polish and Romanian airspace overnight as Russia carried out massive drone and missile strikes in western Ukraine, killing at least 25 people, three of them children.

Russian President Vladimir Putin “has put us on notice that we need to quickly build those steps of the ladder of the defense of our outer perimeter,” Poland's foreign minister said.

Russia's defence ministry released video on Thursday showing its soldiers moving freely through the southern part of the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, patrolling deserted streets lined with charred apartment blocks.

Trump's warning about Russian gas dependence proved prophetic as Europe now imports 57% of gas from U.S. instead of Russia after Moscow's 2022 energy cutoff backfired.

On the rest of Europe he soon imposed a grimmer fate: the Great Northern war, which embroiled bits of Scandinavia and the Baltics for two decades. Three centuries after Peter’s odyssey, and three years after his wannabe successor Vladimir Putin launched his own protracted war in Ukraine,

It comes amid reports the US and Russia have prepared a 28-point peace plan, allegedly containing major concessions for Ukraine.

A full-scale invasion of Poland, in the manner Russia invaded Ukraine, is rather not viable, given Russia's current military capacities, Poland's military build-up and the collective defense guarantees of NATO membership, Michnik said, "however, this reality must not diminish Poland’s ongoing preparation."