To celebrate the historic Battle of Warsaw and Polish Armed Forces Day, the “Great White and Red” grand military parade will be held today in Warsaw for the first time in three years.

The 1920 Battle of Warsaw, also known as “The Miracle on the Vistula,” had a decisive influence on the outcome of the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1921 and is considered one of the most significant battles in history.

Today’s “largest parade of the Polish Armed Forces” will feature 200 units of Polish and foreign military equipment, such as M1A1 Abrams tanks from the US, K9 self-propelled howitzers from South Korea, and Borsuk infantry fighting vehicles from Poland.

Some 2,000 personnel from “all branches of the Polish Armed Forces” will assist with the event, including Polish pilots, who are set to showcase over 90 aircraft, such as the new FA-50 and the F-16 multi-role combat aircraft.The parade is scheduled to begin at 14:00 today in Warsaw, following a military picnic at PGE National Stadium.

Source: Radio Gdańsk, gov.pl, Polskie Radio

It was another deadly weekend in Ukraine, with a Russian missile attack on two villages in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson resulting in the deaths of seven people, including an infant.

On Sunday, Ukraine’s interior minister Ihor Klymenko reported that a family, along with their 23-day-old baby and 12-year-old son, had been killed in the village of Shyroka Balka. In the neighboring village of Stanislav, two individuals lost their lives, and one person was wounded.

In the region of Zaporizhzhia, two more people lost their lives in a series of rocket attacks carried out by Russian forces on Sunday night, according to reports by Ukraine’s Interior Ministry.

In the course of the same night, Ukrainian air defenses shot down enemy rockets during three separate attacks on the southern port city of Odesa, with at least three people reportedly injured due to falling shrapnel.

Last night in western Ukraine, three people were killed by Russian shelling in the town of Lutsk, while in Lviv, four people were injured, and more than a hundred apartments were damaged after a series of attacks on the city.

Today is day 538 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Source: Polskie Radio, Radio Gdańsk

A Russian bomber heading towards the Netherlands was intercepted by NATO fighter jets over Danish airspace yesterday, according to a statement from the Dutch Defense Ministry.

The Dutch defense ministry disclosed on Monday that two F-16 aircraft had been scrambled from the air base in Volkel in response to the incursion, but Reuters reported later that the two Russian bombers were intercepted by the Danish air force before entering Dutch airspace.
There have been numerous reported instances of Russian aircraft encroaching upon the airspace of NATO nations since the eruption of hostilities in Ukraine. Last February, Dutch F-35s stationed in Poland intercepted two Russian aircraft spotted within international airspace over the Baltic Sea.

A similar incident unfolded in mid-February, involving Dutch Air Force F-35 fighters intercepting three Russian planes that approached the NATO air defense zone.

Source: Polskie Radio, Reuters

Minister of Defense Mariusz Błaszczak recently announced the fourth and potentially final question of a proposed referendum to be held alongside the upcoming Polish parliamentary elections in October.

The fourth referendum question, unveiled by Błaszczak on Monday, will ask voters: “Do you support the removal of the barrier on the border between the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Belarus?”

The other proposed questions cover adjustments to the national retirement age, privatization of national assets, and support for EU migration policy.
The PiS government has submitted a motion to the Sejm, Poland’s lower house of parliament, to hold the nationwide referendum in conjunction with parliamentary elections on 15 October, a motion the Sejm will deliberate during a two-day session set to run from August 16-17.

Source: Radio Gdańsk, Polskie Radio

Weather

Today will be mostly sunny, with little to no chance of rain and a slight breeze coming from the south. Temperatures will be some of the hottest we’ve seen this summer, with a daytime high of 32°C or 90°F, dropping to a low of 18°C or 64°F overnight. Cooler weather will return tomorrow, with a chance for rain returning later in the week.

Elizabeth Peck/aKa