2025-09-13T15:26:21Z WARSAW, Poland (AP) Polish and allied aircraft were deployed in a preventive operation in Polands airspace Saturday because of a threat of drone strikes in neighboring areas of Ukraine, and the airport in the eastern Polish city of Lublin was closed, authorities said.The alert lasted around two hours. It came after multiple Russian drones crossed into Poland on Wednesday, prompting NATO to send fighter jets to shoot them down and underlining long-held concerns about the expansion of Russias more than three-year war in Ukraine. The Polish militarys operational command posted on X on Saturday afternoon that ground-based air defense and reconnaissance systems were on high alert. It stressed that these actions are preventive in nature, and were aimed at securing Polands airspace and protecting the countrys citizens. It cited a threat of drone strikes in regions of Ukraine bordering Poland, but didnt give further details. Prime Minister Donald Tusk also posted that preventive air operations had begun in Polish airspace because of the threat posed by Russian drones operating over nearby areas of Ukraine. The Polish Air Navigation Services Agency said that Lublin Airport was closed to air traffic due to military aviation activities, and the government security center warned of a threat of air attack for several border counties in the region. Later Saturday, the militarys operational command wrote on X that the operation has been completed and that ground-based defense and reconnaissance systems had returned to normal. Russia has said it didnt target Poland on Wednesday, and Moscows ally, Belarus, said that the drones went astray because they were jammed. But European leaders have expressed certainty that the incursions were a deliberate provocation by Russia.Polish aircraft have been scrambled repeatedly in recent months to patrol the countrys airspace in connection with Russian airstrikes in Ukraine, but those strikes have usually occurred overnight or in the early morning.