WARSAW/WYRYKI-WOLA, Poland >> Poland shot down suspected Russian drones in its airspace today with the backing of aircraft from its NATO allies, the first time a member of the Western military alliance is known to have fired shots during Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told parliament it was “the closest we have been to open conflict since World War Two,” though he also said he had “no reason to believe we’re on the brink of war.”

Polish F-16 fighter jets, Dutch F-35s, Italian AWACS surveillance planes and NATO mid-air refuelling aircraft scrambled in an operation to shoot down drones entering Polish airspace from Tuesday evening until morning, officials said.

One drone smashed into pensioner Tomasz Wesolowski’s two-storey brick house in the eastern Polish vil

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