Poland says it shot down Russian drones that violated its airspace
By Claudia Ciobanu and Illia Novikov, Associated Press
Warsaw, Poland (AP) – Poland said on Wednesday that several Russian drones entered its territory over several hours and had been slaughtered with the help of NATO allies, describing the foray as an “act of aggression” carried out during a wave of Russian strikes on Ukraine.
The Kremlin refused to comment, but its close ally, the Bélarus, said that he had followed certain drones which “lost their course” because they were blocked. However, several European leaders said they thought that the foray was equivalent to an intentional climbing of Russia from its war against Ukraine.
Poland said some of the drones came from Bélarus, where Russian and Belarusian troops began to come together for war matches on Friday.
Polish airspace has been violated several times since the large -scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine in 2022, but there was nothing on Poland or in any other Western nation along the eastern side of NATO and the European Union. A NATO spokesperson said it was the first time that the Alliance has faced a potential threat in its airspace.
NATO met to discuss the incident, which occurred three days after Russia’s largest air attack on Ukraine since the start of the war.
“Russia war is getting lost, does not end,” said the head of the European Union foreign policy Kaja Kallas. “Last night, in Poland, we saw the violation of the most serious European airspace by Russia since the start of the war, and the indications suggest that it was intentional, not accidental.”
The extent of the incursion still became clear: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that the violations of Parliament 19 were recorded over seven o’clock, but that the information was still collected. Eight accident sites have been found, said a government spokesperson. Dutch fighter planes came with Poland and intercepted certain drones, said Minister of the Netherlands of Defense.
“This is an act of aggression that constituted a real threat to the security of our citizens,” said the operational command of the Polish army on social networks.
French President Emmanuel Macron called on Russia to end “this reckless escalation”, while Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala called the violation “a defense capacity test of NATO countries”.
Poland says that some drones came from Bélarus
Tusk told Parliament that the first violation had come around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday and the last around 6:30 am on Wednesday. He said the 19 violations recorded so far were “not the final data”.
Earlier, the Minister of Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote on X that more than 10 objects have crossed the Polish airspace, but he did not specify any exact number.
“What is new, in the worst sense of the word, is the direction from which the drones have come. It is the first time in this war that they did not come from Ukraine as a result of minor Russian errors or provocations.
Major-General Belarusian Pavel Muraveiko, chief of the chief of staff and Deputy Prime Minister, seemed to try to put a certain distance between his country and the foray.
In an online statement, he said that, while Russia and Ukraine were exchanging drones hitting the Belarusian air forces followed “the drones that lost their course” after being trapped, adding that the Belarusian forces warned their Polish and Lithuanian territory about “unidentified planes”.
“This allowed the Polish part to quickly respond to drone actions by blurring their forces in service,” said Muraveiko.
Drones have been found in seven places in Poland, according to Karolina Galecka, spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior and Administration. In the eighth site, objects of unknown origin have been found.
Bernard Blaszczuk, mayor of the village of Wyryki, in the Lublin region, told TVP Info that a house had been affected. A large part of the roof was scammed. He said people were inside but no one was injured.
On Wednesday morning, the army was guarded in the streets of the village while curious inhabitants huddled with the police and the firefighters to understand what happened.
Poland has closed part of its airspace for several hours and Warsaw Airport has suspended Warsaw Airport.
NATO members have the support, with shaken Baltic countries
NATO’s air defenses supported Poland in what Colonel Martin O’Donnell spokesman called “the first time that NATO planes have engaged potential threats to allied air space”.
Tusk said that parliamentary consultations with allies took place under article 4 of the NATO Treaty – a clause that allows countries to call for urgent discussions with their allies. Consultations took place during a pre-Planified meeting on Wednesday. They do not automatically lead to any action under article 5, which is the collective security guarantee of NATO.
Dutch fighter planes F-35 “Drones intercepted in Poland,” said Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans on X. And German patriotic defense systems in Poland were also “on alert”, and an Italian in early warning and an aerial was launched, said O’Donnell.
NATO, he said, “undertakes to defend every kilometers from NATO territory, including our airspace.”
The leaders of the Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – NATO members are the most nervous about Russian assault given their proximity – were among the most shaken and expressed concerns.
“Russia deliberately widens its aggression, constituting an ever -increasing threat to Europe,” wrote Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda on X. The Minister of Estonian Affairs Margus Tsahkna said that the day after Ukraine and the violations of Polish air space were “yet another recall.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for this “extremely dangerous precedent for Europe” and called on Russia to “feel the consequences”.
“Moscow always tests the limits of what is possible and, if it does not encounter a strong response, remains at a new level of climbing,” he said. “Not just a Shahed (drone), which could be rejected as an accident, but at least eight attack drones that were intended for Poland.”
The objects entered the Polish airspace before
Poland complained of Russian objects entering its airspace during attacks against Ukraine before.
In August, the Minister of Defense of Poland said that a flying object that crashed and exploded in a cornfield in eastern Poland had been identified as a Russian drone, and described it as provocation by Russia.
In March, Poland scrambled the jets after a Russian missile was briefly passed through Polish airspace on its way to a target in western Ukraine, and in 2022, a missile which was probably dismissed by Ukraine to intercept a Russian attack landed in Poland, killing two people.
Russian attacks have struck the center and western Ukraine
Meanwhile, the Air Force of Ukraine says that Russia has drawn 415 strike and lure drones, as well as 42 cruise missiles and a ballistic missile during the night.
Ukrainian air defenses have intercepted or blocked 386 drones and 27 cruise missiles, according to the report.
One person was killed and a injured in the Zytomyr region overnight, the head of the regional administration Vitalii Bunechko wrote on Telegram, while houses and businesses were damaged.
Russian drones injured three people in the west of Khmelnytskyi from Ukraine, wrote Serhii Tiurin on Telegram early Wednesday morning. He said that a sewing factory had been destroyed, a service station and vehicles have been damaged and that windows in several houses have been blown away.
In the Vinnytsia region, Russian drones have damaged “civil and industrial infrastructure”, according to regional chief Natalia Zabolotna. Nearly 30 residential buildings have been damaged and a person was injured.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in its morning report Wednesday that it had destroyed 122 Ukrainian drones during various Russian regions during the night, especially above Crimea and illegally annexed regions of the Black Sea.
Novikov reported Kyiv, Ukraine. The writers of the AP Lorne Cook in Brussels and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
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