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Poland has for the first time shot down drones that came into its airspace during a Russian attack on Ukraine, in what the Nato member said was an “unprecedented violation”.
The operation in the early hours of Wednesday, which involved fighter jets and air defence systems from Poland and other Nato allies, is the most serious clash between Russia and the US-led military alliance since the start of Moscow’s full-blown war against Ukraine in February 2022.
The incident comes as efforts by US President Donald Trump to force Russia and Ukraine into peace negotiations stall, and European capitals lobby Washington to take stronger actions against Moscow.
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said an operation was “under way related to multiple violations of Polish airspace”.
“The military has used weapons against the objects,” Tusk wrote on X. He later called an emergency government meeting for 8am local time.
Tusk added that he had briefed Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte on the military events and was in “constant contact” with him.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions between Nato and Moscow, ahead of the start of a large-scale Russian military exercise on Friday close to Poland. The five-day Zapad war games involve the armed forces of Russia and Belarus.
Poland’s military said there had been “an unprecedented violation of Polish airspace by drone-type objects” and said an operation was under way to identify and neutralise them. “Some of the drones that entered our airspace were shot down,” the operational command of Poland’s armed forces said.
Polish defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said military aircraft were used and that Warsaw was “in constant contact with Nato command”.
There was an ongoing search for downed drones, he added.
While some stray missiles and other objects have landed in Poland since Russia’s all-out attack on Ukraine began — including a missile that killed two Polish farmers in November 2022 — it is the first time that Poland’s military has shot down drones over its airspace.
Russia shifted its tactics this summer, firing drones and missiles on a significantly greater scale to try to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defence and exhaust its stock of interceptors.
Moscow at the weekend launched the largest mass aerial attack on Ukraine since its full-scale invasion, lobbing more than 800 drones and a dozen missiles across the country.
Earlier on Wednesday, Poland’s military said it had scrambled aircraft and moved its ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems to their highest readiness state. The Polish military said that the Podlaskie, Mazowieckie and Lublin regions were at the greatest risk. Local authorities in Lublin said a damaged drone was found around the town of Czosnówka.
The operational command said that “allied aircraft are operating in our airspace” and that “Polish and allied assets tracked several objects by radar”. It was not immediately clear which of Poland’s allies had mobilised their planes or assisted with tracking.
Polish authorities said flights were suspended at Warsaw’s main Chopin airport and three others, including the one closest to Poland’s border with Ukraine at Rzeszów-Jasionka.
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Asked on Tuesday night in Washington about reports of Russian drones over Poland, Trump did not respond to reporters.
The White House, Pentagon and US state department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Tuesday, Tusk announced that Poland’s border with Belarus would be fully closed ahead of the Zapad exercise.