Poland just admitted Russia's border attacks are now permanent

Poland's Prime Minister just said something big.

Donald Tusk says Russian attacks near Poland's border have become permanent. Polish jets now scramble every single night because of it.

He said it earlier today, before a cabinet meeting in Warsaw. His words: the strikes have taken on a permanent character. And he's warning Poland faces difficult weeks and months ahead.

So what happened most recently? A Russian drone hit Ukrainian territory near the Dorohusk-Yahodyn border crossing a day ago. Poland's Defence Minister, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, says the drone landed about two kilometres from the Dorohusk crossing. It did not cross into Polish airspace.

Ukrainian border guards told the outlet Ukrainska Pravda the drone struck several hundred metres from the border. The crossing itself wasn't damaged. But Ukrainian border guards say the blast wave did damage a nearby building at the checkpoint.

Donald Tusk described it himself at the cabinet meeting. He says quote "a gas station was probably attacked again. There was a very powerful explosion."

And here's the thing. That's the same crossing Russian drones have hit again and again for two weeks straight.

The worst strike so far came 16 days ago. A Russian drone hit the locomotive of a passenger train travelling from Kyiv to Warsaw. It happened about two kilometres from the Polish border. None of the 206 people on board were hurt.

But here's who was nearby. Boris Johnson, Britain's former Prime Minister, and Carl Bildt, Sweden's former Prime Minister, had been travelling on or near that exact train shortly before it was hit. Ukraine's railway operator, Ukrzaliznytsia, says it's highly probable the train itself was the target. That hasn't been independently confirmed.

Twelve days ago, another Russian drone came down about four kilometres inside Ukraine, near a gas station close to that same Dorohusk crossing. Donald Tusk called it a very powerful explosion. Polish jets got sent up. Air raid sirens sounded in Lublin and Rzeszów, and both airports briefly stopped flights. Polish authorities say their airspace was not violated.

Around the same time, Donald Tusk told Poland's parliament something worth hearing in full. He says intelligence assessments from NATO, Ukraine and American agencies suggest Russia is planning hybrid drone and missile strikes against countries backing Ukraine. Poland included. The goal, he says, is to weaken NATO's resolve. To make Article 5, the alliance's mutual defence clause, look like it exists only in theory.