Poland said it scrambled its own and Nato air defences to shoot down drones over its territory after repeated violations of its airspace during a Russian attack on Ukraine in what the Polish army called an “act of aggression”.
It marks the first time in the war that Warsaw has engaged Russian assets in its airspace.
“An operation is under way related to the repeated violation of Polish airspace,” Polish prime minister Donald Tusk wrote on X early on Wednesday. “The military has used weaponry against the objects.”
He said he informed the Nato secretary general Mark Rutte about actions undertaken by the Polish side. He also said he was in “constant contact” with Poland’s newly elected president Karol Nawrocki and the operational commander.
Poland’s military command said drones repeatedly violated Polish airspace during the Russian attack in western Ukraine. Radars tracked more than 10 objects and those that could pose a threat were “neutralised”, the command said.
“Some of the drones that entered our airspace were shot down.”
The Polish military says the “operations of Polish and allied aviation related to violations of Polish airspace have concluded” but that the search for fallen drones and their impact site is ongoing.
In a post on X, it urged people not to touch or approach and unknown object or debris, warning that they may contain hazardous materials. It also thanked Nato and the Royal Netherlands Air Force for their help in ensuring “safety in Polish skies”.
Police discovered a damaged drone in the eastern Polish village of Czosnowka, police from the Lublin region announced on Wednesday.
Operations at airports in Warsaw, Modlin, and Rzeszow have resumed, while the airport in Lublin remains temporarily closed, a spokesman for the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PAZP) told private television station TVN24.
The first reports about possible violations of the Polish airspace emerged late on Tuesday night after Ukraine’s air force said that Russian drones had entered Poland’s airspace, posing a threat to the city of Zamość.
The alleged incursion comes a day after Mr Nawrocki warned that Russian president Vladimir Putin was ready to invade more countries after launching his war in Ukraine.
“We do not trust Vladimir Putin’s good intentions,” Mr Nawrocki told reporters Tuesday at a press conference in Helsinki.
Poland has been on high alert for objects entering its airspace since a stray Ukrainian missile struck a southern Polish village in 2022, killing two people, a few months into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But there have been no reports of Polish or allied defence systems destroying drones.
The incident comes shortly before Russia and Belarus are set to begin military drills on Friday, which have raised security concerns in the region.
On Tuesday, Poland said it would close its border with Belarus as a precautionary measure, with neighbouring Lithuania also declaring it would step up its border controls. – Guardian/Reuters