Analysts have pointed out that the range of Shahed drones found in Polish territory is sufficient for them to have been launched from Russia, its Baltic territory of Kaliningrad or through its ally Belarus.<\/p>\n
Slovakian PM: We need to know if this was deliberate<\/p>\n
Robert Fico, the prime minister of Slovakia<\/a>, has said it was vital to determine if the incursion by Russian drones into Poland was accidental or a deliberate attack.<\/p>\n Fico, who is a vocal critic of European military support for Ukraine and has said President Putin had been \u201cwrongly demonised\u201d by the West, was the only EU leader to join Putin and President Xi for a military parade in Beijing this month.<\/p>\n He called the incursion a \u201ca serious incident that can lead to far-reaching consequences\u201d and said \u201cit is vitally important to objectively establish whether it was intentional or accidental and under whose control the drones were used\u201d.<\/p>\n Meanwhile Russia said it had not designated targets \u201cfor destruction\u201d on Polish territory during the \u201calleged\u201d incursion.<\/p>\n Putin\u2019s attack makes a mockery of Trump, says Polish minister<\/p>\n Poland\u2019s foreign minister has said there was \u201cno doubt\u201d that Russia had deliberately dispatched drones into his country, and claimed that President Putin was \u201cmocking\u201d President Trump with the incursion.<\/p>\n Radoslaw Sikorski also announced that he had spoken to Marco Rubio, the United States secretary of state, and issued a note of protest to the diplomat in charge of the Russian embassy in Warsaw.<\/p>\n Sikorski implied that the Nato consultations that had been convened at Poland\u2019s request this morning were only the beginning of the alliance\u2019s response. \u201cWe won\u2019t leave it like this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Trump to speak with Polish president <\/p>\n President Trump<\/a> is expected to hold a telephone call with his Polish counterpart President Nawrocki later today, according to a White House official.<\/p>\n The two leaders appear to have struck up a cordial relationship after Nawrocki\u2019s visit to Washington last week.<\/p>\n After their meeting in the Oval Office, Trump offered to send more American troops to Poland \u201cif they want\u201d, adding: \u201cWe\u2019re with Poland all the way, and we\u2019ll help Poland protect itself.\u201d<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Poland\u2019s foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said he expected Trump \u201cwill want to show that what he said about Polish safety will be backed by actions\u201d.<\/p>\n Russian claim that drones did not have flight range disputed<\/p>\n Although Russia\u2019s defence ministry suggested that its drones did not have the range to fly into Poland, analysts have disputed this.<\/p>\n Shahed-type drones that have previously infringed on Nato territory have a range of more than 1,240 miles without a warhead, or about 620 miles with one. Polish officials have indicated that many of those recovered from Wednesday\u2019s attack were unarmed decoys.<\/p>\n While the defence ministry in Moscow said earlier that the drones involved had a maximum range of 435 miles, this is still within striking distance from Russia. The Ukrainian-Polish border is less than 370 miles from Russia\u2019s Bryansk region, and Lublin about 400 miles.<\/p>\n A flight path over Belarus<\/a>, where Russian troops are massing for war games that begin on Friday, would also be plausible.<\/p>\n Polish media reported wreckage found in Olesno, about 250 miles from the Ukrainian border, is only 30 miles from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, further underlining doubts over Moscow\u2019s claim.<\/p>\n Healey: \u2018We are in a new era of threat\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cWe are in a new era of threat\u201d, John Healey<\/a>, the British defence secretary, said at the E5 meeting in London. He says he has asked UK armed forces to look at options.<\/p>\n He said up until six weeks ago the UK had six Typhoons in Poland, but now has about 300 members of the Armed Forces based there. \u201cWe will do what we can as part of Nato,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The E5 group was set up in 2024 and is made up of the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Poland. Until July, RAF Typhoons were operating from Poland as part of Nato\u2019s air policing mission \u2014 a task shared between the members of the military alliance.<\/p>\n John Healey speaks at E5 meeting<\/p>\n John Healey, the British defence secretary, said he had asked the UK armed forces \u201cto look at options to bolster Nato\u2019s air defence over Poland\u201d after Russian drones were shot down over the eastern European country.<\/p>\n Healey was speaking at the E5 meeting between Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Poland in London on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n John Healey speaking at the Group of Five meeting on Wednesday<\/p>\n JAIMI JOY\/REUTERS<\/p>\n The UK had deployed one of its seven Sky Sabre missile systems<\/a> to Poland but this was pulled out last year and brought back to the UK for maintenance.<\/p>\n Healey may decide to send at least one of these back to Poland although UK resources are stretched. Another option would be to step up Nato\u2019s air policing mission. RAF Typhoons ended their mission in Poland in July. However, Nato could decide to increase the number of aircraft operating in the region.<\/p>\n Crank up sanctions against Russia, says former Nato commander<\/p>\n A former Nato deputy supreme allied commander in Europe has said \u201caction like this must not go unpunished\u201d after the Russian drone attack in Poland.<\/p>\n Adrian Bradshaw, who was in post between 2014-17, told Andrew Neil on Times Radio that Nato must respond \u201ccalmly\u201d and with \u201cunity and resolve\u201d as he called for more sanctions.<\/p>\n \u201cThe point of the consultations is to do things which lower the tension and lower the potential for a slide into conflict, which none of us want.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it\u2019s reasonable to assume that even Mr Putin doesn\u2019t want a conflict between the whole of Nato and Russia, because it would be disastrous for all of us. So we need to bear that in mind, but be seen to act with resolve, and the point is that an action like this must not go unpunished.<\/p>\n He said there \u201cmust be action\u201d to deter aggression. \u201cBut if we don\u2019t want to escalate in the military domain, then we must do so in the economic, political and diplomatic domains.\u201d<\/p>\n Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager.<\/a><\/p>\n Enable cookiesAllow cookies onceWreckage of another drone found<\/p>\n The wreckage of another Russian drone has been discovered in a Polish village more than 250 miles from the border with Ukraine and 140 miles from Belarus, according to local media.<\/p>\n Radio Zet said a farmer in the village of Olesno, near the port of Elblag, had found the remains of a \u201clarge, white machine with wings, about the size of a small car\u201d in one of his fields.<\/p>\n The drone wreckage found in Olseno<\/p>\n It is unclear how the drone penetrated so deep into Polish territory without being intercepted, although Olesno is only 30 miles from the heavily militarised Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic coast.<\/p>\n Nato\u2019s Article 4, which was invoked today by Poland over Russian drone incursions, commits the alliance\u2019s member states to consult when \u201cin the opinion of any of them, its territorial integrity, political independence or security\u201d has been threatened. Unlike Article 5, it does not trigger Nato\u2019s collective defence pact.<\/p>\n Before today, Article 4 had been invoked seven times, mostly by Turkey, since Nato was founded in 1949. The first time was in 2003, when Turkey asked for assistance from the alliance over potential threats to its security from the Iraq war. Turkey also invoked the article on four other occasions in connection with the war in Syria.<\/p>\n In 2014, Poland invoked Article 4 after Russian troops invaded Crimea. Nato responded by boosting its response force and deploying troops from member states to battle groups in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.<\/p>\n In 2022, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, as well as the Baltic states, invoked Article 4 after Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, prompting Nato to establish four more battlegroups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. The alliance also reinforced its defence and deterrence capabilities in Europe.<\/p>\n Russia says it was not targeting Poland<\/p>\n Russia has said it was not targeting sites in Poland during an \u201calleged\u201d overnight drone attack.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were no targets planned for destruction on Polish territory,\u201d the Russian defence ministry said.<\/p>\n It also said it was ready to hold talks with defence officials in Warsaw as tensions grow on Nato\u2019s eastern flank.<\/p>\n \u201cThe maximum flight range of the Russian UAVs [drones] used in the strike, which allegedly crossed the border with Poland, does not exceed 700km,\u201d the defence ministry said. <\/p>\n It also said it had carried out \u201cmassive strikes with long-range precision weapons\u201d against Ukrainian military targets.<\/p>\n US Nato ambassador: We stand by our allies<\/p>\n The US ambassador to Nato said on Wednesday that Washington stood by its allies after drones violated Poland\u2019s airspace overnight and were countered by Nato air defences.<\/p>\n Echoing an earlier statement from Nato\u2019s secretary-general, Mark Butte, the US envoy to the alliance, Matthew Whitaker, wrote on X: \u201cWe stand by our Nato allies in the face of these airspace violations and will defend every inch of Nato territory.\u201d<\/p>\n Russian drones were \u2018clearly set on this course\u2019<\/p>\n The Russian drones that violated Polish airspace were \u201cclearly set on this course\u201d and \u201cdid not have to fly this route to reach Ukraine\u201d, the German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said Wednesday.<\/p>\n He told German parliament: \u201cThere is absolutely no reason to believe that this was a course correction error or anything of the sort.\u201d<\/p>\n Sebastian Hille, a German government spokesman, said that Moscow was \u201ctesting\u201d Ukraine\u2019s allies with a \u201cvery serious\u201d incident.<\/p>\n The incursions \u201conce again shows the threat that we face\u201d and how much Germany and other Nato countries \u201care being tested by Russia\u201d, Hille said.<\/p>\n Analysis: Western leaders must decide how to respond to any future incursions<\/p>\n By Marc Bennetts<\/p>\n The Kremlin has neither denied nor confirmed that its drones were responsible for the incursion.<\/p>\n \u201cThe EU and Nato leadership accuse Russia of provocation on a daily basis, most often without even trying to present any arguments,\u201d Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said earlier.<\/p>\n But the incursion of drones appears to signal another escalation in the war in Ukraine. The fact that at least 19 Russian drones flew into Polish airspace, and for long enough to be considered a threat, indicates that this was a deliberate move by Moscow or it suffered a massive loss of control over the powerful combat drones.<\/p>\n The incident comes just days after a Russian airstrike hit the main government building in Kyiv for the first time. There may be concerns now in Europe that Putin, reassured of China\u2019s diplomatic and economic backing, will go all-out in his bid to conquer Ukraine and divide Nato.<\/p>\n Western leaders, who are wary of conflict with nuclear-armed Russia, will now have to decide how to respond in the event of more large-scale drone incursions into Poland or other Nato member states. A failure to respond effectively will be viewed in Moscow as a victory for Putin\u2019s bid to weaken Nato as a military alliance.<\/p>\n \u2018Reckless, unprecedented and dangerous\u2019<\/p>\n John Healey, the defence secretary, said on Wednesday that President Putin had taken his aggression to a \u201cnew level of hostility\u201d after Nato jets were forced directly to shoot down Russian drones.<\/p>\n In opening remarks before a meeting in London with the E5 group of European nations, he said: \u201cPoland\u2019s direct defensive military action last night is the first of its kind since Putin launched his illegal invasion in 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the Polish defence minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz has \u201crightly headed home to Poland to deal with this attack\u201d.<\/p>\n Healey<\/a> said the aggression strengthened support for Ukraine, adding: \u201cRussia\u2019s actions are reckless, unprecedented and dangerous. We totally condemn these attacks. It reminds us that a secure Europe needs a strong, sovereign Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n The E5 group comprises France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom. Healey added that between them the E5 nations \u201ccontribute 60 per cent of Europe\u2019s defence spending in Nato\u201d.<\/p>\n German air defence aided neutralisation of drones<\/p>\n The head of Nato said that German Patriot air defence batteries were involved in neutralising a series of Russian drones that encroached into Polish airspace.<\/p>\n Mark Rutte, the alliance\u2019s secretary general, listed the ground-based missile systems alongside Polish F-16 and Dutch F-35 fighter jets, an Italian early warning aircraft and Nato tanker transport planes.<\/p>\n Germany<\/a> is believed to have deployed two Patriot batteries, manned by about 200 troops, to guard the military airport and logistics hub at Rzeszow in southeastern Poland, close to the Ukrainian border.<\/p>\n \u2018We will defend every inch of Nato territory\u2019<\/p>\n Nato was prepared to repel any future violations of allies\u2019 airspace with its air defences \u201ccontinually at the ready\u201d across the eastern flank, the alliance\u2019s secretary general said.<\/p>\n Mark Rutte said that the Russian drone incursion on Poland was \u201cnot an isolated incident\u201d and told President Putin<\/a> to \u201cstop violating allied airspace and know that we stand ready, that we are vigilant and that we will defend every inch of Nato territory \u2026 including, of course, its airspace\u201d.<\/p>\n This morning, the North Atlantic Council \u2014 the alliance\u2019s central political decision-making body \u2014 met in Brussels after Warsaw requested Article 4 deliberations.<\/p>\n Rutte said the allies had denounced Russia\u2019s \u201creckless behaviour\u201d but a full assessment of the incidents had yet to be concluded.<\/p>\n Drones entered airspace from Ukraine, says Russian diplomat<\/p>\n A Russian diplomat has said that the drones that were shot down over Poland<\/a> entered the country from Ukraine, but stopped short of admitting that Moscow was responsible or blaming Kyiv.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know one thing \u2014 these drones were flying from the direction of Ukraine,\u201d Russia\u2019s charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires in Warsaw, Andrei Ordash, said after leaving the Polish foreign ministry.<\/p>\n Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, declined to comment, saying the matter was an issue for the Russian defence ministry. Channel One, Russia\u2019s main television station, has not reported on the incident.<\/p>\n Seven drones recovered in Poland<\/p>\n Poland\u2019s interior ministry confirmed on Wednesday that a house and a car had been damaged in Russia<\/a>\u2018s overnight violation of Polish airspace, adding that seven drones and debris from an unknown projectile had so far been located.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have found seven drones and projectile debris \u2026 of unknown origin,\u201d Karolina Galecka, an interior ministry spokeswoman, told reporters.<\/p>\n Tusk: Poland is the closest it\u2019s been to conflict since Second World War<\/p>\n Poland is the closest it has been to open conflict since the Second World War, the country\u2019s prime minister told the Polish parliament.<\/p>\n Donald Tusk in parliament today<\/p>\n RADEK PIETRUSZKA\/EPA<\/p>\n \u201cI have no reason to claim we\u2019re on the brink of war, but a line has been crossed, and it\u2019s incomparably more dangerous than before,\u201d Donald Tusk said. \u201cThis situation brings us the closest we have been to open conflict since World War Two.\u201d<\/p>\n Tusk confirmed the shooting down of three Russian drones and added that it was likely a fourth was also downed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that these drones, which posed a security threat, were shot down changes the political situation. Therefore, allied consultations took the form of a formal request to activate Article 4 of the Nato treaty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s air weapon of choice<\/p>\n The Shahed drone has become the primary weapon of choice in Russia\u2019s air war against Ukraine. In summer 2024, Russia fired about 350 Shaheds at Ukraine a month. <\/p>\n In August, they launched more than 4,000, and more than 800 in one night last weekend. Meaning \u201cwitness\u201d or \u201cmartyr\u201d in Persian, Iran has developed a whole range of Shahed drones. <\/p>\n The Shahed 136 \u2014 or Geran 2 in Russian \u2014 has become the most frequently used in the Ukraine war<\/a>. Russia has begun mass producing them on their own soil. <\/p>\n The plant in Alabuga in the Tatarstan region of Russia, is staffed primarily with migrant labour, some of which is from Africa. Japanese media also reported that the supreme leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, is to send 25,000 workers there.<\/p>\n Not everything is made in Russia. The four-cylinder engine is made by a Chinese company, Xiamen Limbach, while the high-tech parts of the drone \u2014 the signal generators and converters \u2014 are manufactured by the Beijing Microelectronics Technology Institute. <\/p>\n The drone has a range of up to 2,500km, and contains a high-explosive fragmentation warhead estimated to weigh about 50kg. <\/p>\n The Shahed is cheap and comparatively slow, but the sheer volume that Russia is able to launch simultaneously is a challenge to Ukraine\u2019s air defences.<\/p>\n Poland to convene crisis committee<\/p>\n Karol Nawrocki, the Polish president, said he will convene the National Security Council, Poland\u2019s equivalent of the UK\u2019s Cobra crisis committee, within 48 hours to review the unprecedented Russian drone incursions into Polish airspace.<\/p>\n He said the meeting of the National Security Bureau on Wednesday included discussions of Article 4 of the Nato treaty. The prime minister, Donald Tusk, confirmed that Poland has formally requested consultations under Article 4, which allows allies to discuss threats to a member\u2019s territorial integrity or security.<\/p>\n Nawrocki said he learnt of the incursions around 3am and immediately co-ordinated with the head of the National Security Bureau, the defence minister, and senior military commanders. Full reports on the drones\u2019 movements and impact are expected within two days.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the first time Nato<\/a> aircraft have engaged potential threats in allied airspace,\u201d said a spokesman for Nato\u2019s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe.<\/p>\n UK has limited assets available to protect Europe\u2019s skies<\/p>\n Britain has a limited number of assets available to help protect European skies, with aircraft and air defence systems stretched thinly at any one time (Larisa Brown writes).<\/p>\n The UK was not involved in helping Poland to defend its skies against the Russian incursion as its assets had recently been moved away from the region, it is understood.<\/p>\n The UK\u2019s Sky Sabre missile system, previously deployed to Poland as part of measures to beef up security of Nato\u2019s eastern flank, is in the UK undergoing maintenance.<\/p>\n The \u00a3250 million medium-range anti-air missile system was first deployed in early 2022<\/a>, along with about 100 personnel to protect Poland\u2019s airspace and returned last year.<\/p>\n In July this year, RAF Typhoons also returned to the UK after carrying out a four-month deployment as part of a Nato air-policing mission in Malbork, Poland.<\/p>\n This RAF move is not unusual, as Nato allies operate on a rotational basis to ensure the skies are protected at any one time. However, the UK has just seven Sky Sabre systems in service and the demand is high.<\/p>\n Russia testing Nato\u2019s mettle with drone attack incident in Poland<\/p>\n Three weeks ago a Russian Shahed-type kamikaze drone, nicknamed the \u201cflying moped\u201d because of its characteristically clanking engine, strayed into Polish airspace and kept going for 60 miles.<\/p>\n Polish television released this picture, purportedly of a crashed Russian drone from Wednesday\u2019s incident<\/p>\n REPUBLIKATV<\/p>\n It eventually exploded in the village of Osiny, barely 50 miles from Warsaw, the capital, and 25 miles from the Polish air force\u2019s officer academy. The blast damaged several buildings, although no one was hurt. The low-flying aircraft did not appear to have been detected by Polish military radar.<\/p>\n These incursions into Nato airspace are no longer extraordinary. They have affected Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Poland and even Croatia, more than 400 miles away from Ukraine, often escaping detection until they had already hit the ground.<\/p>\n Read in full:<\/b> Russia is testing Nato\u2019s mettle<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n A third of Russians know someone who has died in war<\/p>\n One in three Russians knows someone who has died in the war in Ukraine, according to a poll by the Levada Centre, widely regarded as the country\u2019s most independent pollster.<\/p>\n However, one in two people in the city of Moscow said the war<\/a> had not affected them or their relatives in any way. Putin has deliberately sought to shield Moscow, Russia\u2019s richest city, from the effects of the war.<\/p>\n The poll also found that 66 per cent of Russians are now in favour of peace talks, an all-time high. At the same time, three out of four people said they supported the actions of the Russian army in Ukraine. Some analysts say that polls on support for the invasion are unreliable because it is a crime to openly criticise the war and people are afraid of revealing their true opinions to strangers.<\/p>\n There have been 125,000 verified deaths of Russian soldiers in Ukraine, according to BBC Russia and Mediazona, an opposition website. Meduza, another opposition website, said last week that at least 219,000 Russian soldiers have died since Putin sent tanks into Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n Starmer condemns drone incursion<\/p>\n Sir Keir Starmer<\/a> has condemned Russia\u2019s violation of Polish and Nato airspace.<\/p>\n \u201cThis morning\u2019s barbaric attack on Ukraine and the egregious and unprecedented violation of Polish and Nato airspace by Russian drones is deeply concerning,\u201d the prime minister said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was an extremely reckless move by Russia and only serves to remind us of President Putin\u2019s blatant disregard for peace, and the constant bombardment innocent Ukrainians face every day.\u201d<\/p>\n Sir Keir Starmer was with Mark Rutte, Nato\u2019s secretary-general at Downing Street on Tuesday<\/p>\n JOSHUA BRATT FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n Starmer added that he had been in touch with the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, to reiterate the UK\u2019s support for Poland.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cMy sincere thanks go to the Nato and Polish forces who rapidly responded to protect the alliance. With our partners \u2014 and through our leadership of the coalition of the willing \u2014 we will continue to ramp up the pressure on Putin<\/a> until there is a just and lasting peace.\u201d<\/p>\n Putin knows \u2018there will be no reaction\u2019<\/p>\n A Russian critic of the Kremlin has said the incursion of Russian drones into Poland was a result of the West\u2019s failure to stand up to Moscow\u2019s campaign of sabotage in Europe.<\/p>\n Leonid Volkov, the former chief of staff to the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, said: \u201c[President] Putin has long since tested the limits. He knows that there will be no reaction. And so he continues to move upon the path of escalation.<\/p>\n \u201cHis calculation is obvious: since he already knows that he will not meet with a severe rebuff, the West\u2019s policy to prevent escalation will follow the other remaining (and wrong) path \u2014 the path of concessions and appeasement,\u201d Volkov wrote on Telegram.<\/p>\n Russia is believed to be responsible for a growing number of arson, cyberhacking and other attacks on European infrastructure since Putin sent tanks into Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n Details on Poland and Nato\u2019s response to drones<\/p>\n Poland responded to overnight Russian drone incursions by scrambling both Polish and Nato fighter jets \u2014 including F-16s and Dutch F-35s \u2014 and putting all air defence and radar systems on maximum alert.<\/p>\n Italian surveillance aircraft and Nato mid-air refuelling planes supported the operation, a Nato source said. Military command co-ordinated efforts to identify and neutralise at least 19 drones, deploying weapons against those posing direct threats. Several airports, including Warsaw Chopin, were temporarily closed.<\/p>\n An F-16 taking part in Nato exercises over Poland in 2022<\/p>\n RADOSLAW JOZWIAK\/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n A recently acquired Saab 340 AEW&C early-warning aircraft, described as a \u201csmall Awacs\u201d (Airborne Warning and Control System), was also scrambled, marking the first aircraft of this type in Poland.<\/p>\n Poland\u2019s layered air defence combines long, medium and short-range systems with networked 360-degree radar coverage, including US-supplied equipment, to detect and track airborne threats.<\/p>\n Repeated violations of Polish airspace have increased political pressure on the government, with criticism over preparedness and Nato readiness.<\/p>\n Nato air support for Poland was \u2018display of resolve\u2019<\/p>\n The US general in charge of Nato\u2019s forces in Europe said the rapid mobilisation of air support for Poland had been a display of \u201cresolve to defend allied territory\u201d.<\/p>\n Polish air defences were supported by Nato aircraft from Italy and the Netherlands, with public tracking data suggesting that an Italian early warning aerial surveillance jet had been scrambled from a base in Estonia.<\/p>\n General Alexus Grynkewich, Nato\u2019s supreme allied commander in Europe, said the alliance had responded \u201cquickly and decisively\u201d and its central military headquarters remained in \u201cclose contact and co-ordination\u201d with Poland.<\/p>\n Tusk: 3 drones shot down and 19 airspace violations<\/p>\n Donald Tusk, the prime minister of Poland, said his country\u2019s military recorded 19 airspace violations overnight.<\/p>\n \u201cNineteen violations were identified and precisely tracked \u2026 At the moment we have confirmation that three drones were shot down \u2026 We have no information suggesting that anyone was injured or died as a result of the Russian action,\u201d Tusk told parliament on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Tusk added that a significant number of the drones flew into the country from Belarus<\/a>.<\/p>\n The last drone to be shot down was at 6.45am local time, said Tusk.<\/p>\n Tusk confirms Poland has invoked Article 4<\/p>\n The Polish prime minister, has now confirmed that he has invoked Nato\u2019s Article 4 for urgent talks after Russian drones violated his country\u2019s airspace.<\/p>\n Donald Tusk addresses parliament on Wednesday<\/p>\n RADEK PIETRUSZKA\/EPA<\/p>\n \u201cThe allied consultations I am referring to have now taken the form of a formal request to invoke Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty,\u201d Donald Tusk told parliament.<\/p>\n Incursion was \u2018intentional\u2019, says EU\u2019s top diplomat<\/p>\n The European Union\u2019s chief diplomat has said the Russian drone incursion into Poland appears to have been \u201cintentional, not accidental\u201d.<\/p>\n Kaja Kallas, the head of the bloc\u2019s foreign service and one of its most hawkish voices on Russian aggression, also announced that Brussels would start providing support for border defence programmes such as Poland\u2019s \u20ac2 billion \u201cEast Shield\u201d fortifications.<\/p>\n \u201cLast night in Poland, we saw the most serious European airspace violation by Russia since the war began, and indications suggest it was intentional, not accidental,\u201d Kallas, the former Estonian prime minister, wrote on X.<\/p>\n She added: \u201cWe must raise the cost on Moscow, strengthen support for Ukraine, and invest in Europe\u2019s defence. The EU plays a major role and we will support initiatives like the [Polish] Eastern Border Shield defence line.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Russia feeds on our weakness,\u2019 says German MP<\/p>\n A senior MP from the ruling Christian Democratic Union party in Germany has called on Berlin to provide Ukraine with long-range Taurus cruise missiles<\/a> and \u201cmassive military support\u201d in response to the Russian aerial incursion on Poland.<\/p>\n Roderich Kiesewetter, a retired colonel who previously served on Germany\u2019s general staff, said allied declarations of solidarity with Warsaw were \u201cout of place\u201d and inadequate.<\/p>\n \u201c[We must] finally answer with consistency and toughness!\u201d he wrote on X. \u201cThe claptrap about peace talks must stop.<\/p>\n \u201cUkraine must now get Taurus and massive mil[itary] aid, because Russia feeds on our weakness \u2026 Our peace, liberty and self-determination are being tested by Russia and are in massive danger.\u201d<\/p>\n Nato: drone incursion \u2018not an attack\u2019<\/p>\n Nato is not treating the drone incursion into Polish territory as an attack, an alliance source told Reuters on Wednesday, adding initial indications suggested an intentional incursion of six to ten Russian drones.<\/p>\n Pro-war bloggers in Russia picked up on this report and mocked it. <\/p>\n \u201cNobody is going to fight for Ukraine,\u201d wrote Yuri Podolyak on Telegram. \u201cNato does not need [to fight] a war with its own hands.\u201d<\/p>\n More pictures of house hit by drone in Poland<\/p>\n Residents in Wyryki, a small village in eastern Poland, heard noises throughout the night \u2014 including the whistling of drones and aircraft \u2014 before a house in the village was hit.<\/p>\n One of the drones destroyed the roof and shattered bricks of the house in the village, northeast of Lublin. Pictures of what appeared to be a living room showed it covered by rubble and dust, with a large hole punched through the ceiling. <\/p>\n The local mayor, Bernard Blaszczuk, confirmed no one was injured, but said the family who lived there were in shock and were receiving psychological support. Tarpaulins are being ordered to cover the damaged roof.<\/p>\n Classes have been cancelled at two local schools on Wednesday. The largest number of drone reports in Lublin province early on Wednesday came from the counties of Zamosc, Wlodawa and Biala, close to the borders with Ukraine and Belarus.<\/p>\n Kremlin yet to comment on drone incursion<\/p>\n The Kremlin has yet to comment on the downing of Russian drones over Poland, while state television in Moscow made no mention of the incident. Channel One, Russia\u2019s biggest TV station, said only that Russia had carried out \u201cmassive strikes against military infrastructure\u201d in Ukraine. <\/p>\n The Interfax news agency in Moscow reported that drones had been shot down over Poland, but did not say who they belonged to.<\/p>\n Polish national security committee raises prospect of invoking Article 4<\/p>\n Karol Nawrocki, the president of Poland, said the country\u2019s national security committee had raised the prospect of invoking Article 4 of the Nato treaty, which would trigger consultations on a joint alliance-wide response.<\/p>\n General Wieslaw Kukula, the chief of the Polish general staff, is expected to present the government with a list of possible countermeasures within 48 hours.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Stanislaw Koziej, a former head of the National Security Bureau, said Poland should urge allies to set up a \u201cforward defence zone\u201d over Ukrainian territory as a buffer against future Russian incursions.<\/p>\n Belarus shot down drones that \u2018lost their track\u2019<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s ally Belarus claimed that it had shot down some drones that went astray due to electronic jamming during an exchange of strikes between Russia and Ukraine.<\/p>\n It added that it had also informed Poland and Lithuania that drones were approaching their airspace.<\/p>\n Major General Pavel Muraveiko, the chief of the general staff of the Belarus armed forces<\/p>\n BELARUS DEFENCE MINISTRY\/REUTERS<\/p>\n \u201cThis allowed the Polish side to respond promptly to the actions of the drones by scrambling their forces on duty,\u201d the head of the Belarusian military, Major General Pavel Muraveiko, said in a statement in English.<\/p>\n Muraveiko did not say whose drones \u2014 also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) \u2014 went astray.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring the night-time exchange of strikes by UAVs between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, the air defence forces and assets of the Republic of Belarus on duty continuously tracked UAVs that had lost their track as a result of the impact of the parties\u2019 electronic warfare assets.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of the lost drones were destroyed by our country\u2019s air defence forces over the territory of the republic.\u201d<\/p>\n Europe \u2018fully stands in solidarity with Poland\u2019<\/p>\n Europe stands in full solidarity with Poland after last night\u2019s incursions by Russian drones, the president of the European Commission has said.<\/p>\n Speaking in her annual state of the union address to the European parliament, Ursula von der Leyen said: \u201cWe have witnessed a thoughtless and unprecedented violation of the airspace of Poland and Europe. Europe fully stands in solidarity with Poland. Europe must fight for its place in a world in which many powers are either ambivalent or openly hostile to Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n Roberta Metsola, the European parliament\u2019s president, added: \u201cWe are awaiting information on what happened. Poland has the full right to defend itself.\u201d<\/p>\n Finnish president: Russia is seeking escalation<\/p>\n Finland and Sweden have declared full support for Poland\u2019s decision to eliminate the Russian drones in its airspace and condemned the Kremlin for the \u201cescalatory\u201d step.<\/p>\n Alexander Stubb, the Finnish president, said the incident had underlined how the intense Russian aerial bombardment of Ukraine affected \u201cthe security of all of Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cRussia bears responsibility for this act,\u201d Stubb wrote on X. \u201cInstead of peace, Russia is seeking escalation.\u201d<\/p>\n Romania scrambled jets after Russian incursion<\/p>\n Romania\u2019s military also scrambled F-16 fighter jets to monitor Russian drones that came close to its borders early this morning, although its airspace was not breached.<\/p>\n Two Romanian air force jets took off just before 1am local time on a reconnaissance mission, after a group of aerial drones were spotted in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Ukrainian town of Vylkove, which is near the border with Romania.<\/p>\n An alert was raised for the northern part of the country, which is a Nato member state. However, by 2.35am the alert was lifted and the jets returned to base.<\/p>\n \u201cNo intrusions of any aerial vehicles into the national airspace were detected,\u201d the Romanian defence ministry said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Ministry of National Defence permanently maintains a high level of vigilance and ensures strict surveillance of the national air, maritime and land space,\u201d it added. \u201cWe are in permanent contact with our allies, exchange operational information in real time and act firmly to guarantee the security of Romania and Nato\u2019s eastern flank.\u201d<\/p>\n Polish defence minister was in London at time<\/p>\n Poland\u2019s defence minister, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, was in London when Russian drones repeatedly violated Nato airspace over Poland last night.<\/p>\n He had attended a working dinner with Ministry of Defence officials \u2014 including his British counterpart, John Healey \u2014 which was delayed by Transport for London strikes. Kosiniak-Kamysz was scheduled to appear today at the Defence and Security Equipment International arms fair at Excel London.<\/p>\n By 3am, Kosiniak-Kamysz, who also serves as deputy prime minister, was called back to Warsaw. This morning, he attended an emergency cabinet meeting called by the prime minister, Donald Tusk, which began <\/b>with debriefs from generals and senior security officials.<\/p>\n Zelensky repeats call for European air defence system<\/p>\n After accusing Russia of \u201cdeliberately targeting\u201d neighbouring Poland, President Zelensky repeated his call for a joint air defence system between Ukraine and its European allies.<\/p>\n \u201cUkraine has long proposed to its partners the creation of a joint air defence system to ensure the guaranteed downing of \u2018Shaheds\u2019, other drones, and missiles through the combined strength of our combat aviation and air defences,\u201d Zelensky said on X. \u201cTogether, Europeans are always stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n While Kyiv\u2019s allies have previously donated air defence systems to Ukraine, development of any shared system has been hindered by concerns that it could escalate the war.<\/p>\n Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager.<\/a><\/p>\n Enable cookiesAllow cookies onceMacron: Russian drone incursion \u2018simply unacceptable\u2019<\/p>\n President Macron of France has called the incursion of drones into Polish airspace \u201csimply unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that he would speak soon to the Nato secretary-general, Mark Rutte.<\/p>\n Sir Keir Starmer, President Zelensky, President Macron, Friedrich Merz and Donald Tusk in Kyiv in May<\/p>\n STEFAN ROUSSEAU\/WPA POOL\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n \u201cWe will not compromise on the safety of our allies,\u201d Macron wrote in a post on X.<\/p>\n Hours earlier, Macron announced S\u00e9bastien Lecornu<\/a>, the former defence minister, as France\u2019s new prime minister, while activists started a day of protests across the country.<\/p>\n Russia is \u2018using political space Trump is giving to Putin\u2019<\/p>\n A senior diplomatic source in Poland told The Times that there were \u201cserious worries about the massive incursion\u201d, which amounted to the biggest violation of Polish airspace by Russia since the war began. <\/p>\n They said Russia was \u201ctesting Nato\u201d and also \u201cusing the political space that [President] Trump is giving to [President] Putin\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cRussia wants to show with its massive attacks on Ukraine and this hybrid warfare that they have the upper hand,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n Pictures published of Polish house hit by drone<\/p>\n Polish media have published pictures of the damage caused when a house was hit by a Russian drone, ten miles from the border with Belarus.<\/p>\n Polsat, a Polish private broadcaster, published images showing a roof that had been torn open on a residential building in Wyryki-Wola, a village close to the point where the Polish, Belarusian and Ukrainian frontiers meet.<\/p>\n Police earlier said no one had been hurt.<\/p>\n The remains of another crashed drone were discovered in a field near Czosnowka, a village about 30 miles north of Wyryki-Wola.<\/p>\n The Polish authorities have also announced that the Mazovia region around Warsaw was affected by air alerts, as residents were urged to take shelter.<\/p>\n Nato confirms it helped counter Russian drones<\/p>\n Nato air defences helped counter drones that entered Polish airspace overnight and the secretary-general Mark Rutte is in contact with Warsaw, an alliance spokeswoman confirmed on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cNumerous drones entered Polish airspace overnight and were met with Polish and Nato air defences. The Nato secretary-general is in touch with Polish leadership and Nato is consulting closely with Poland,\u201d Allison Hart, the Nato spokeswoman and director of the Office of Strategic Communications, wrote on X.<\/p>\n Hart said Nato ambassadors were holding a regular meeting Wednesday morning and \u201cwill discuss how Nato responded to the drones that entered Poland overnight\u201d.<\/p>\n Czech foreign minister: war against Ukraine is \u2018threat to us all\u2019<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s drone incursions into Polish airspace are more proof that Moscow\u2019s war against Ukraine is a threat to \u201cus all\u201d and Nato should reinforce air defence on the front line without delay, the Czech foreign minister, Jan Lipavsky, said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201c[President] Putin will not stop unless we stop him hand in hand with tougher sanctions,\u201d Lipavsky said in a post on X.<\/p>\n Poland considers invoking Article 4 to trigger Nato consultations<\/p>\n Poland is considering invoking invoked Nato\u2019s Article 4 clause to trigger consultations with its allies, The Times has been told.<\/p>\n The mechanism is the standard starting point for large-scale Nato operations but stops short of the better-known Article 5, which provides for mutual defence if a member state is attacked.<\/p>\n Article 4 has previously been activated seven times in Nato\u2019s 76-year history, all of them in the 21st century.<\/p>\n Any member state can use it to initiate alliance-wide talks in response to a threat to its security or territorial integrity.<\/p>\n Poland and other European Nato members have used it twice to prompt consultations on how the alliance should respond to the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. On the other five occasions, Article 4 was invoked by Turkey.<\/p>\n Russian drones were \u2018a deliberate test\u2019<\/p>\n Russia deliberately sent drones into Polish airspace to test whether the Nato member was willing and able to take them down, a senior Polish general has said.<\/p>\n Mieczyslaw Bieniek, an adviser to the defence minister, said Moscow appeared to have been probing Poland\u2019s defences and to have sent over a wave of \u201cdecoy\u201d drones rather than aiming for particular strategic targets.<\/p>\n On Monday a drone was found to have crash-landed on the Polish side of the border with Belarus, prompting Warsaw to announce that it would eliminate any further incursions it detected, regardless of how many there were.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a deliberate test of an allied country\u2019s air defence system: to check whether this system is operational, whether the early warning system is activated, and whether the electronic warfare and fire control teams are ready,\u201d Bieniek told TVN24, a Polish broadcaster.<\/p>\n Russia conducted wave of attacks on Ukraine overnight<\/p>\n President Zelensky said Russia launched about 415 drones and more than 40 cruise and ballistic missiles in what he called a \u201cmassive\u201d attack on Ukraine overnight.<\/p>\n At least one person had been killed and others injured in the latest wave of attacks, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cRescuers are now working in Volochysk, Khmelnytskyi region, where the Russians struck an ordinary sewing workshop with a missile,\u201d he added. \u201cAs of now, three people are reported injured \u2026 Fifteen of our regions were under attack. Sadly, one person was killed as a result of shelling in the Zhytomyr region.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/\/650a6ac2-8604-49ab-973f-520e5efe4890.jpg\")
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