Poland calls Starlink fire sabotage as NATO allies warn of escalating Russian hybrid threats

A fire broke out Wednesday night at a Starlink satellite station in Wola Krobowska, a town in Poland's Masovian Voivodeship province. The station remained operational after the blaze, but Polish Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski moved quickly to frame what happened as something far more deliberate than an accident. Speaking to the state broadcaster TVP Info, he described the fire as an intentional act designed to cripple the facility and sever internet access to Ukrainian institutions, including the military. An investigation was underway, he said, though "many indications suggest" the attack aligned with what he called a "new Russian doctrine of attack." The Kremlin offered no response to the accusation.

The timing of Poland's claim arrives amid a broader wave of concern rippling through NATO capitals about Russian aggression beyond Ukraine's borders. Denmark's intelligence service released a fresh threat assessment warning that Moscow is expected to intensify what analysts call hybrid warfare—a catch-all term for non-military pressure tactics including cyberattacks, sabotage, and disinformation campaigns, often carried out through proxies to maintain plausible deniability. While the Danish assessment judged an outright Russian military strike on a NATO member "highly unlikely," it flagged a "low but growing risk" that Moscow might attempt a limited incursion to test the alliance's resolve. Russia consistently denies involvement in such operations, despite what Western intelligence agencies say is mounting evidence to the contrary.

The concern is not abstract. In recent weeks, European NATO members have reported a series of incidents. Germany blamed Russia for an attempted drone strike on Leipzig/Halle Airport earlier this month. France has ordered the development of a comprehensive plan to shield critical infrastructure and defence facilities. On Wednesday alone, Poland reported that a Russian military helicopter briefly crossed into its airspace, prompting the country to scramble fighter jets in response. That same day, Moldova's president said four Russian drones penetrated its airspace, with at least one detonating, while Romania's defence ministry confirmed a drone crashed on its territory. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, speaking at a news conference with Bulgaria's leader, acknowledged the difficulty of certainty but said the fire "looks bad."

Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine itself has entered a new phase of intensity. In the village of Stara Hnylytsia in the Kharkiv region, a Russian strike on a farm killed six people and wounded twelve others—agricultural workers who had been sorting vegetables when the attack came. Four of the dead were women, according to the regional administrator. In Kyiv on Wednesday night, multiple explosions lit the sky as drones, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles either struck targets or were shot down overhead. A bakery, a pharmaceutical plant, and a jewellery workshop all took direct hits. Strikes on data centres knocked out internet service across parts of the city. Two people were killed and eight injured in the overnight barrage. One death occurred when fragments from a downed drone landed near a maternity hospital—yet even in that chaos, life asserted itself: a woman gave birth to a baby boy in a shelter during the attack, the hospital's director said.

Russia's defence ministry claimed it had targeted Ukrainian military facilities, logistics hubs, telecommunications infrastructure, and military vessels. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, attending the UN General Assembly in New York, accused Russia of deliberately striking civilian targets, though he acknowledged the difficulty of always distinguishing intent from accident. What is clear, however, is that Russian strategy now explicitly includes attacks on power plants, railways, and data centres—infrastructure far from the front lines, designed to degrade civilian life. Ukraine has begun mirroring this approach, striking Russian oil refineries and supply depots to bring the war home to ordinary Russians.

The character of Russian air attacks has shifted. Jet-powered drones are now more common than the slower, piston-engine models that preceded them. These newer systems fly higher and faster, making them harder to intercept and giving civilians less time to seek shelter. Kyiv is racing to develop affordable air defence systems, as the missiles and fighter jets needed to counter the threat are prohibitively expensive. In New York, Zelensky called on the United States to provide ballistic interceptors and appealed for help stopping Putin from "spreading this evil further." He framed the conflict in stark terms: "Putin is always looking for someone who can help him kill more, kill more people for every kilometre of land." Meanwhile, Reuters reported that a Russian presidential envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, was heading to the United States to meet with Trump administration officials including Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. At the UN Security Council, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared there would be no pause in the war.