By Ananya Palyekar
WARSAW, Feb 7 (Reuters) – Two airports in southeastern Poland were suspended from operations as a precaution due to Russian strikes on nearby Ukraine territory, Polish authorities said on Saturday.
“In connection with the need to ensure the possibility of the free operation of military aviation, the airports in Rzeszow and Lublin have temporarily suspended flight operations,” Polish Air Navigation Services Agency posted on X.
Both cities are close to the country’s border with Ukraine, with Rzeszow being NATO’s main hub for arms supplies to Ukraine.
Military aviation had begun operating in Polish airspace due to Russian strikes on Ukraine, the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces said on X.
“These actions are of a preventive nature and are aimed at securing and protecting the airspace, particularly in areas adjacent to the threatened regions,” the army said.
Flight tracking service FlightRadar24 posted on X that the closure involved NATO aircraft operating in the area.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said in a notice to airmen that both airports were inaccessible due to the military activity related to ensuring state security.
Last month, Rzeszow and Lublin suspended operations for a time, but the authorities said then that the military aviation operations were routine and there had been no threat to Polish airspace.
(Reporting by Ananya Palyekar, Shivani Tanna and Alan Charlish; Editing by William Mallard and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
