WARSAW, SEPT 10 (AFP/APP): Poland said Wednesday it had scrambled aircraft alongside allies to shoot down “hostile objects” violating its airspace during a Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine, a first for a NATO country during the war.

Ukraine warned that Russia’s leader was “testing the West” and called for its allies to mount a strong response or risk Russian drones flying “even further into Europe”.

The incursion came as Russia unleashed a barrage of strikes across Ukraine, including in the western city of Lviv, around 50 miles (80 kilometres) from the Polish border.

“Aircraft have used weapons against hostile objects,” Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on social media, adding: “We are in constant contact with NATO command.”