A fire broke out on Wednesday evening at a ground-based Starlink satellite communications station in central Poland providing connectivity for the region, including Ukraine, deputy prime minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said.

He added that the systems were now operational.

Poland has been on heightened alert for acts of sabotage since Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in 2022. Russia has repeatedly denied any such action.

“The fire engulfed the power station and the generator; it is clear that this act of sabotage was deliberately designed to disable the station — effectively cutting off the internet connection… and disrupting internet access for various institutions, including the Ukrainian military,” he said.

“While everything is operational today, we must recognise —as Prime Minister Tusk recently noted — that this is an element of hybrid warfare.”

He added that while it was not established that Russia was responsible for the fire, “many signs suggest this aligns with Russia’s new doctrine of attack”.

“Recently, we sent two North Korean prisoners of war to the Republic of Korea,” the Ukrainian president said, revealing that the prisoners had left Ukrainian custody.

South Korea stopped short of publicly confirming the transfer.

“It is difficult to confirm whether the individuals have been handled, the timing and route, or the specific details about the consultations between the two countries,” a foreign ministry official said, citing the issue of their safety.

Maroosha Muzaffar writes:

Czech air force JAS-39 Gripen fighter jets were scrambled overnight for combat air patrol over Poland, the Czech army said on Thursday.

The army said on X that there was no need to use force during the mission and the jets have returned to their home base.

Six people have been killed in a Russian attack on a farm in Ukraine’s northern Kharkiv region early on Thursday, the region’s governor has said.

Another 12 people were injured in the attack, according to authorities.

“Two men and four women have been killed,” Oleh Syniehubov, head of Kharkiv regional military administration, said earlier on Telegram. “We currently know of eight people who have been injured – they are farm workers.”

He later revised the injury toll to 12.

German foreign minister Johann Wadephul called for a full and immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, starting in the Black Sea, to safeguard grain and food supplies.

“Ukraine had a very good grain harvest this year. But because of the Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports, it can’t be delivered to the world.

“Russia is thereby exacerbating hunger and starvation worldwide,” he said in a statement published on Thursday.

Addressing the summit on Tuesday, Burnham announced London would establish a new National Centre for Information Defence, singling out Moscow over what he termed disinformation.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov characterised the approach taken by Burnham and other European nations as fundamentally flawed.

“Well, the British prime minister said nothing new. That is the first point. The second is that stoking anti-Russian sentiment and fostering an atmosphere of total Russophobia is what Britain is doing. And now, presumably in unison with Britain, the Germans, the French and a number of other European states are doing the same thing,” said Peskov.

“From our point of view, this is an utterly short-sighted policy. It in no way brings us any closer to any steps that might, in the long term, lead to a reduction in tensions and de-escalation on the European continent.”

Russia has previously been accused of using illicitly acquired documents about UK-US trade talks to try to influence the 2019 contest.

The new unit is initially being led out of the Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet, with the new centre working alongside intelligence agencies, government departments, the police and social media companies.

He told world leaders that the UK and its allies had been subjected to an “industrial-scale assault” by hostile states, including Russia, to “prey on people’s fear”.

The prime minister said misinformation had worsened in recent years, accusing Vladimir Putin’s agencies of interfering with the 2019 general election and falsifying newspaper articles.

“It is now ten years since Brexit, my country has lived through the destruction, and it has given us a unique perspective that I want to share with you today,” he told the UN.

He added: “In recent years we have seen an industrial-scale assault by hostile actors on the information environment in the UK and many of our allies. Russian agencies have used every means at their disposal to spread lies and disinformation and prey on people’s fears.

“I know this is a shared challenge. So we are going to use our experience in the UK – and the fact that we have already been through this shock – to help other countries.”

Volodymyr Zelensky looked tired. His delivery was halting. Like the country he leads he can barely comprehend that he is still talking of war into the fifth year of Ukraine’s defence against Russia.

“Putin is always looking for someone who can help him kill more, kill more people for every kilometre of land, take more territory, attack another country instead of simply stopping and running his own country, the Ukrainian president said.

Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia launched a ballistic missile strike on Kyiv as he met members of the US Congress to discuss sanctions against Moscow.

The Ukrainian president said the overnight attack targeted Kyiv and civilian infrastructure, including residential buildings, a maternity hospital, energy infrastructure and logistics.

“As people were sleeping, flashes from explosions lit up the sky. Once again, the main targets of their strike were Kyiv and civilian infrastructure, residential buildings, a maternity hospital, energy infrastructure, and logistics,” he said on X.

Two people were reported killed and others injured, Zelensky said, adding that emergency services were working to rescue people trapped inside one of the buildings.

He called for ballistic missile interceptors and stronger sanctions against Russia and those helping it finance the war, saying Moscow would not end the conflict without greater pressure.