Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has declared that Europe is now in a “pre-war era” and warned that a Ukrainian defeat by Russia would only embolden Vladimir Putin.

‘I know it sounds devastating, especially for people of the younger generation, but we have to mentally adjust to the arrival of a new era. The pre-war era,” he said in a speech to foreign journalists.

‘I don’t want to scare anyone, but war is no longer a concept from the past. It’s real and it started over two years ago.

“We are living in the most critical moment since the end of World War II… literally any scenario is possible,” he concluded.

His warning came as Russia launched a new one large-scale attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with a massive barrage of drones and airstrikes hitting regions across the country overnight, officials in Kiev claimed.

The bombing also prompted Poland to deploy its own fighter planes to protect its airspace against wayward drones, missiles or bombers.

Last week, Warsaw demanded an explanation from Moscow after one of its missiles briefly entered Polish airspace during a major missile attack on Ukraine, prompting the NATO member to activate F-16 fighter jets.

The Romanian Ministry of Defense also said an investigation has been launched after fragments appearing to come from a drone were identified on its territory on Thursday evening in an agricultural area in Braila province, close to the border with Ukraine.

It provided no additional details, although NATO member Romania has repeatedly confirmed drone fragments on its territory since the start of its large-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, airstrike warnings continued throughout the night across the country as the attack targeted 10 separate regions, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said in a statement on Telegram.

The Ukrainian Air Force reported that 60 Shahed drones and 39 missiles of various types were spotted across the country, of which 58 drones and 26 missiles were ultimately shot down by air defenses.

Ukraine’s state grid operator Ukrenergo said the attack deliberately targeted energy infrastructure, including thermal and hydropower plants in the central and western regions.

DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private electricity operator, also said three of its thermal power plants were damaged in the attack.

Elsewhere, five people were injured in the attack in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, local governor Serhii Lysak said. Among the injured was a five-year-old girl.

Putin reiterated earlier this week that Moscow has no plans to attack NATO states, accusing European leaders like Tusk of stoking fears of a Russian invasion that will never justify sending more weapons to Ukraine.

But he also pledged that his forces would shoot down any F-16 fighter jets that Western countries supply to Ukraine, adding that any NATO aircraft used for operations in Ukraine would be “legitimate targets” even if they are based at the airport of a third country. airport.

“We have no aggressive intentions towards (NATO) states,” Putin said, according to a Kremlin transcript released Thursday.

‘The idea that we will attack another country – Poland, the Baltic states and the Czechs are also being frightened – is complete nonsense. It’s just nonsense.

‘If they supply F-16s, and that’s what they’re talking about and they’re apparently training pilots, that doesn’t change the situation on the battlefield. We will destroy the plane, just as we destroy tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment today.

“If they are used from airports in third countries, they obviously become legitimate targets for us, wherever they may be,” he concluded.

In Putin’s comments yesterday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba noted earlier in the day that the plane should arrive in Ukraine in the near future.

Ukraine, now more than two years into a full-fledged war against Russia, has been looking for F-16s for months.

Belgium, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands are among the countries that have pledged to donate F-16s.

Meanwhile, a coalition of NATO countries has pledged to help train Ukrainian pilots in its use.

But Putin said the West was simply playing up the false threat of a Russian invasion of a NATO state to justify expanding its war capabilities and providing further aid to Ukraine.

The Russian president claimed that the West’s trumpeting of perceived aggression from Moscow was just “another way to deceive your people and extract additional costs from the people, force them to bear this burden on their shoulders, that’s all.’

His visit to the Russian air base in Torzhok coincided with nuclear war games in Siberia, when soldiers from a regiment of Yars strategic missile launchers in the Irkutsk region trained to fend off an attack by subversive groups during a military crisis exercise.

“The Yars regiment has gone on combat patrol routes during a command staff exercise,” the Russian Defense Ministry said as it released images of the war games.

“It will change field positions and disperse missile battalions that will conquer polluted areas.

‘Specific attention is paid to fending off attacks from subversion groups.’

Yars missiles currently form the main part of the ground component of Russia’s strategic nuclear force.

The Mach 25 missiles have a range of up to 12,000 kilometers, making an attack on the US possible