Poland said “hostile objects” had been downed by Polish or allied aircraft scrambled in response to multiple violations of its airspace during a Russian attack on Ukraine.
Poland’s military condemned multiple violations of its airspace during a Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine as an “act of aggression”, saying it had spotted a dozen drone-type objects and downed some.
“Following today’s attack by the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory, an unprecedented violation of Polish airspace by drone-type objects took place,” the operational command of Poland’s armed forces said on social media.
“This is an act of aggression that has created a real threat to the safety of our citizens.”
‘Hostile objects’
“Aircraft have used weapons against hostile objects,” Polish defence minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on social media, adding: “We are in constant contact with NATO command.”
Russian drones and missiles have entered the airspace of NATO members, including Poland, several times during Russia’s three-and-a-half-year war, but a NATO country has never attempted to shoot them down.
A cornerstone of the Western military alliance is the principle that an attack on any member is deemed an attack on all.
The operational command of Poland’s military said earlier that “our airspace was repeatedly violated by drones” during a Russian assault on neighbouring Ukraine, and that Polish and allied aircraft had been mobilised in response.
It said they were working to “identify and neutralise” some targets and to locate others that had been downed.
“An operation related to multiple violations of Polish airspace is underway,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on social media, confirming weapons had been used against the invading objects.
‘Provocation’
The operation came as airports, including Warsaw’s main Chopin Airport, were closed, according to a United States Federal Aviation Administration notice which cited “unplanned military activity related to ensuring state security”.
It comes a day after Poland’s newly elected nationalist President Karol Nawrocki warned Russian leader Vladimir Putin was ready to invade more countries after the war in Ukraine.
“We do not trust Vladimir Putin’s good intentions,” Nawrocki told reporters on Tuesday at a press conference in Helsinki.
“We believe that Vladimir Putin is ready to also invade other countries.”
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.
Last month, Poland said a Russian military drone flew into its airspace and exploded in farmland in the eastern part of the country, calling the incident a “provocation”.
Poland in 2023 said a Russian missile had crossed into its airspace to strike Ukraine.
And in November 2022, two civilians were killed when a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile fell on a village near the border.
