Russian Drones Violate Poland’s Air Space During Attack on Ukraine

About 20 drones from Russia violated Polish air space Tuesday night during a Russian attack on Ukraine.

Air defenses for Poland and NATO scrambled to intercept the drones. Remnants of at least a dozen were found during the following day. Some had no explosive payload, strongly suggesting the drones were meant to probe defenses and assess how NATO responds rather than to carry out actual strikes.

Russia denied intentionally sending drones over Poland. The debris and the number of drones said otherwise.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters, “We have no doubt that this was not accidental.” He  condemned it as “an unprecedented attack, not only on the territory of Poland, but also on the territory of NATO and the European Union.” He said this incident was different from previous intrusions by Russian drones. “When one or two drones do, it may be a technical malfunction. But as I told you, in this case there have been 19 violations, and it is simply unimaginable that it could be accidental.”

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called this a “large-scale provocation by Russia. Poland is part of the NATO alliance. Tusk invoked Article 4 of NATO’s treaty. This triggers consultations between NATO allies about a threat. It is a step short of Article 5, which calls upon NATO to treat an attack on any member as an attack on all members.

Tusk said Poland was now closer to being at war than at any other time since World War II.

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