Poland’s armed forces shot down several drones on Wednesday after officials said it was a “repeated violation,” while Russia was conducting an extensive strike into western Ukraine. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed on X that Polish forces had been put in the “highest state of readiness,” and a Cabinet meeting was held in Warsaw at 8 a.m.
Poland’s Central Command said the drones entered airspace in three eastern provinces of Poland, Podlaskie, Mazowieckie, and Lublin, which border Belarus and Ukraine. Debris from the drone was recovered in the village of Czosnówka, which is near the border with Belarus. Deputy Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk advised the public to pay attention to military and police updates as recovery operations were underway.
The operation marks the first direct confrontation between NATO-member Poland and Russian assets since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. This incident is set against a backdrop of increasing Russian strikes: overnight raids set off air raid alerts in Volyn and Lviv, and on Tuesday the glide bomb attack in eastern Ukraine yielded 24 civilian deaths to retirees queued at banks to take out their pension.
Poland has seen spillovers before a Ukrainian missile killed two Poles in 2022, and a Russian drone fell to earth in Poland’s eastern region in July 2025. However, Warsaw has gone a step farther now, with military cooperation to respond with weapons to intercept the violations.
It disrupted air travel, with Warsaw Chopin, Modlin, Rzeszów-Jasionka, and Lublin airports halted. Tusk said he was in “constant contact” with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte — and called this violation, “an unprecedented act of aggression jeopardizing the safety of Polish citizens”. Analysts warn that NATO will be compelled to take harder deterrent actions on its eastern flank, in response to repeated violations.
