Poland has shot down suspected Russian drones that it says committed repeated violations of its airspace during an attack on Ukraine, according to Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
“An operation is underway related to the repeated violation of Polish airspace,” Mr Tusk wrote on X.
“The military has used weaponry against the objects.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says his country has faced a ‘large-scale provocation’ from Russia, in the closest sign of armed conflict the world has seen since World War II. (Reuters: Kacper Pempel)
Mr Tusk called meetings of Polish government ministers responsible for state security and of the country’s Council of Ministers on Wednesday to address the aerial incursion.
After those meetings, he confirmed Poland had shot down the drones and called the incident “an act of aggression” by Russia.
“We are dealing with a large-scale provocation … We are ready to repel such provocations,” Mr Tusk said.
Earlier, police in the eastern Polish Lubelskie province reported a “damaged drone” had been discovered in the village of Czosnówka, about 170 kilometres outside of Warsaw and within 40km of the border with Belarus.
Parts of a damaged UAV shot down by Polish authorities at a site near Zamosc, in south-eastern Poland. (Reuters: Supplied / TVN)
The Polish military operation came amid reports from Ukraine’s Air Force of a massive aerial bombardment targeting multiple cities and regions in eastern Ukraine, which authorities said involved winged missiles and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) drones.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed Russia had used 415 drones and more than 40 cruise and ballistic missiles in the bombardment of 15 different regions, killing at least one person. He said at least eight drone strikes hit Poland.
“The Russians must feel the consequences. Russia must feel that the war cannot be expanded and must be ended,” Mr Zelenskyy said in a statement on Telegram.
Poland’s operation also followed the country’s military scrambling its own and NATO-allied air defences to shoot down Russian drones after they entered from Ukraine — the first time in the Ukraine war that Warsaw has engaged Russian assets in its airspace.
Soldiers from Poland’s Territory Defense Forces were deployed to assist in the ground searches for downed drones. (Reuters: Supplied / Agencja Wyborcza.pl /Jakub Orzechowski)
Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said in a post on X that the country was “in constant contact with NATO command” and that the Territorial Defense Forces had been deployed in ground searches for debris from downed drones.
The Polish army also announced that it had shortened the time for reporting for duty for soldiers to six hours in four eastern provinces, in response to the incident.
Earlier, Poland’s military command said the nation’s airspace was repeatedly violated by “drone-type objects” during the Russian attack in Ukraine.
The country trying to Putin-proof its border
Four major Polish airports were then closed, including Chopin Airport in Warsaw, according to the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
By 7:30am on Wednesday local time, Chopin Airport confirmed its airspace had reopened and operations were resuming.
The Rzeszów–Jasionka Airport in Poland’s south-east, a hub for passenger and arms transfers to Ukraine, was among the airports that were temporarily closed, the FAA said.
Russia’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’s request for comment.
Leaders react to ‘Russian incursion’
The alleged incursion comes a day after Poland’s newly elected nationalist President Karol Nawrocki warned that Russian leader Vladimir Putin was ready to invade more countries after launching his war in Ukraine.
“We believe that Vladimir Putin is ready to also invade other countries,” Mr Nawrocki told reporters at a press conference in Helsinki.
Mr Nawrocki said on Wednesday that Poland would call a meeting of its National Security Council within 48 hours, and described the incident as an unprecedented moment in NATO’s history.
NATO-member Poland, a major supporter of Ukraine, hosts over a million Ukrainian refugees and is a key transit point for Western humanitarian and military aid to the war-torn country.
Karol Nawrocki met with President of Finland Alexander Stubb during a bilateral visit to Helsinki. (Reuters: Supplied / Lehtikuva / Roni Rekomaa)
Russian drones and missiles have crossed into the airspace of NATO members Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania several times during the three-and-a-half-year war.
Last month, Warsaw said a Russian military drone flew into its airspace and exploded in farmland in eastern Poland, calling the incident a “provocation”.
On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said the movement of Russian drones into Polish airspace was “simply unacceptable”.
“I condemn it in the strongest possible terms. I call on Russia to put an end to this headlong rush,” Mr Macron said in a post on X.
“I will soon meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. We will not compromise on the security of the Allies.”
Karol Nawrocki also met with US President Donald Trump at the White House earlier in September. (Reuters: Brian Snyder)
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala echoed that sentiment, saying the Russian incursion represented a hit on NATO’s defence capabilities.
“It is hard to believe that this was a mere coincidence. Putin’s regime threatens all of Europe and systematically probes how far it can go,” Mr Fiala said in a post on X.
“It is clear that Russia is attempting to harm the inhabitants of other European countries.”
The Belarusian defence ministry on Wednesday said that its air force had tracked drones that had lost their way and strayed into Polish airspace, before alerting authorities in Poland and Lithuania of the approach of an unknown aircraft.
In the United States, Democratic senator Dick Durbin said repeated violations of NATO airspace by Russian drones were a sign that “Vladimir Putin is testing our resolve to protect Poland and the Baltic nations”.
Republican representative Joe Wilson, a senior member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a post on X that Russia was “attacking NATO ally Poland” with drones, calling it an “act of war”.
Mr Wilson urged US President Donald Trump to respond with sanctions “that will bankrupt the Russian war machine”.
AFP/Reuters