On the night of Wednesday, September 10, the Polish army shot down several drones over its territory, apparently launched by Russia. This is the first time that a NATO country had to take action against Russian unmanned aircrafts in its airspace since the start of the war in Ukraine. Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius stresses the necessity to build a “drone wall” along the eastern border.
According to PM Donald Tusk, Polish airspace was violated by a huge number of Russian drones. Mr Tusk said that most of them originated from Belarus. Polish and NATO sent combat aircrafts to the skies. Drones that posed a direct threat were shot down, PM Tusk added.
“Another Russian test of EU and NATO”
In a direct reaction, Andrius Kubilius, Commissioner for Defence and Security, labelled the incident “another Russian test of NATO frontier states”. In a post at X, he urged a drone wall to be built along the entire EU eastern flank and underlined the necessity of coordinated action against Russia.
Mr Kubilius is Lithuanian by nationality and in the past has twice served as prime minister of Lithuania, a country that, like Poland, borders directly on Russia.
Drones and debris found deep inside Poland
According to local authorities, the first violation of Polish airspace occurred on Tuesday, 9 September at 11:30 p.m. local time. The last drone was detected on Wednesday at 6:45 a.m. Thus, the attack lasted the entire night.
To date, Polish authorities found seven drones and parts of a missile of unknown origin, Interior Ministry spokeswoman Karolina Galecka said. She added that five drones and debris from an unknown missile were found in the Lublin Province, which borders both Ukraine and Belarus. However, the remaining two drones penetrated deep into Polish territory and were found near Łódź (350 kilometres far from the Ukrainian border) and in Warmian-Masurian Province in the north of Poland.
No casualties or injuries have been reported so far. The drones seem to have caused only minor material damage.
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Russia has no interest in escalating tensions with Poland. – Russian chargé d’affaires in Warsaw Andrej Ordas
The Polish Foreign Ministry summoned Russian chargé d’affaires in Warsaw Andrej Ordas on Wednesday in connection with the incident.
“We consider the accusations to be unfounded. No evidence has been presented that these drones are of Russian origin,” Mr Ordas said. “Russia has no interest in escalating tensions with Poland,” he added. According to Russian chargé d’affaires, the drones that violated Polish airspace on Wednesday night had originated from Ukraine.
The Kremlin has not yet officially commented on the incident.
