Alert RCB in eastern Poland: aircraft scrambled due to Russian strikes on Ukraine

On Tuesday, 20 October 2026, residents of part of the Lublin voivodeship — including Lublin, Chełm, Zamość, Biała Podlaska and neighbouring counties — received an Alert RCB: “ATTENTION! Russian air attack on the territory of Ukraine. The situation is being monitored. Polish aircraft are operating in the airspace of the Republic of Poland. Await further messages.” This is not the first alert in the past two days: on Monday similar text messages were sent to the Lublin and Subcarpathian voivodeships, on Tuesday morning the previous alert was cancelled, and then the messages went out again.

The reason is Russian strikes on western Ukraine, including with drones. The Operational Command of the Armed Forces scrambled military aircraft, and ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems were put on alert; the command stresses the preventive nature of these actions.

The Polish Air Navigation Services Agency temporarily suspended flights at Lublin and Rzeszów airports to ensure conditions for military aviation. The alert did not cover the whole country: the messages were addressed only to the designated areas.