Standoff in the skies over Europe as Nato scrambles warplanes after Putin uses bombers to PUMMEL Ukraine

Air defence systems and Nato warplanes were placed on high alert last night as Russia pummelled Ukraine with bombers, drones and missile strikes.

Despite peace talks ramping up as world leaders seek to bring the three-year war to an end, Vladimir Putin’s forces sent fears skyrocketing in Ukrainian capital Kyiv and across the border in Poland.

Russia’s hulking Tu-95MS bombers forced locals in Kyiv into air-raid shelters once again – mere hours after an American B52 was seen in the skies over Nato ally Estonia.

And in a range of Ukrainian regions including Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Sumy and Cherkasy, residents braced as overhead explosions lit up the night sky.

Drones were also launched by Putin’s forces – wounding numerous people in the blasts.

While in Poland, ground-based air defences and radar systems were also “put on alert” amid fears Russia was launching missiles just over its border with Ukraine.

A Polish armed forces statement said: “Attention, due to the activity of long-range aviation of the Russian Federation, striking targets located, in particular, in the west of Ukraine, military aviation has begun to operate in the airspace of Poland.”

The American warplanes were seen over Estonian capital Tallinn – fewer than 50 miles away from the Russian border – as the country marked its independence day.

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The B52, flanked by F35s and FA18 jets, jetted out across the North Sea from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.

And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Monday that Estonia ranked among the five nations he feared lay in Putin’s firing line if Russia’s aggression continued.

Zelensky said Eastern European countries with “Russian roots”, notable Russian populations, or were part of the Soviet Union or its “sphere” are at risk.

He said Putin could use the links to Russia, however shaky, as a pretext for another deadly invasion – just like he did in Ukraine.

The flare-up came ahead of a landmark announcement by Sir Keir Starmer that defence spending will be hiked to 2.5 per cent of GDP in just two years in a bid to battle the “Russian menace”.

In an urgent address to MPs early on Tuesday afternoon, the Prime Minister pledged that £13.4billion more would be spent on defence every year from 2027.

Announcing the largest increase in defence spending since the Cold War came to a close, Starmer vowed to bring a “generational response” to combat a “generational challenge”.

“Russia is a menace in our waters, our airspace and on our streets,” he added.