Poland on high alert after shooting down Russian drones in its airspace

Poland said it scrambled its own and NATO air defences Wednesday in order to shoot down Russian drones that entered its airspace after an air attack on western Ukraine — the first time in the Ukraine war that Warsaw has engaged Russian assets in its airspace.

Poland's military command said Polish airspace was repeatedly violated by "drone-type objects" during the Russian attack across the border in Ukraine.

"An operation is underway aimed at identifying and neutralizing these objects," it said in a statement. "Weapons have been used, and service personnel are carrying out actions to locate the downed objects."

It said the military operation was ongoing and urged people to stay at home, naming the regions of Podlaskie, Mazowieckie and Lublin as most at risk.

"The operational command of the Polish armed forces is monitoring the situation, and subordinate forces and units remain on full readiness for immediate response," it said.

A Shahed drone flies during a Russian strike on Kyiv, Ukraine, on Sunday. The war has largely become one fought from the air with a range of increasingly sophisticated drones deployed by both sides. (Evgeniy Maloletka/The Associated Press)

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on the social platform X that "multiple violations of Polish airspace" had occurred and that he had briefed NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on the situation and the actions Poland had taken.

Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, who serves as defence minister, said Polish aircraft had "used weapons against hostile objects."

"We are in constant contact with NATO command," he said on X. 

Cezary Tomczyk, Poland's deputy minister of national defence, said on X earlier Wednesday that Tusk was "present at the scene of the operations."

Poland also closed four airports, including its main Chopin Airport in Warsaw, according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. There was no official confirmation from Polish authorities that any airports had been closed.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte meets with Tusk in Warsaw in March 2025. Tusk said on X Wednesday that he had informed Rutte of the situation. (Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

The Rzeszow–Jasionka Airport in Poland's southeast, a hub for passenger and arms transfers to Ukraine, was among the airports that had been temporarily closed, the FAA said.

"This is an act of aggression that posed a real threat to the safety of our citizens," the operational command of the Polish armed forces said on X.

U.S Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been briefed on reports of Russian drones over Poland, CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins said on Tuesday. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S. lawmakers urge Trump to take action

In the United States, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said reports of repeated violations of NATO airspace by Russian drones were a sign that "Vladimir Putin is testing our resolve to protect Poland and the Baltic nations."

"After the carnage Putin continues to visit on Ukraine, these incursions cannot be ignored," he said on X.

WATCH | How Russia is testing the waters with escalating attacks: Russia launched its largest airstrike on Ukraine since the start of the war, hitting and setting fire to a government building in central Kyiv for the first time. As U.S. President Donald Trump continues to try to end the war in Ukraine, Andrew Chang explains why Russian President Vladimir Putin keeps escalating it. Images provided by Getty Images, The Canadian Press and Reuters.

Republican representative Joe Wilson, a senior member of the foreign affairs committee, said in a post on X that Russia was "attacking NATO ally Poland" with drones, calling it an "act of war."

He urged U.S. President Donald Trump to respond with sanctions "that will bankrupt the Russian war machine."

"Putin is no longer content just losing in Ukraine while bombing mothers and babies, he is now directly testing our resolve in NATO territory," he said.

Glide bomb strikes Ukrainian village, killing at least 24

Poland's armed forces were already on a heightened state of alert overnight Tuesday and early Wednesday because of what they described as "further massive airstrikes against targets located in Ukraine."

"Polish and allied aircraft are operating in our airspace, and ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have reached the highest level of alert," the operational command of Poland's armed forces said in a statement posted on social media.

A damaged bicycle and debris lie on the ground following a Russian airstrike in the village of Yarova in Donetsk region that killed several civilians at a pension disbursal point, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday. (Reuters)

A Russian glide bomb struck Yarova, a village in the Donetsk region of Eastern Ukraine, as people stood in line in the open air Tuesday morning to collect their monthly pension. The blast killed at least 24 people and injured 19 others, the Ukraine Emergency Service said.

It was the latest Russian attack to kill civilians. More than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the three-year war, the United Nations says.

"Frankly brutal," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram of Tuesday's attack, urging the international community to make Russia pay economically for its full-scale invasion through additional sanctions.

"The world should not remain silent," Zelenskyy wrote.

Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that at least eight drones had targeted Poland during Russian attacks overnight that deployed a total of around 415 drones and over 40 missiles.

"Today there was another step of escalation as Russian-Iranian Shaheds operated in the airspace of Poland, in NATO airspace. It was not just one Shahed that could be called an accident, but at least eight strike drones aimed toward Poland," Zelenskyy wrote on X.

Military funding boost on its way

Wednesday's confrontation comes as Poland is expected to get $51.3 billion US under a European Union program to boost its defence capabilities, a deputy prime minister said earlier on Tuesday, as Warsaw builds up its armed forces due to what it sees as an increased Russian threat.

People gather to protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine in Krakow, Poland, in 2022. Poland is expected to be the largest beneficiary of new EU funding aimed at beefing up the bloc's defence capabilities. (Jakub Wlodek/Agencja Wyborcza.pl/Reuters)

Russia's invasion of Ukraine and U.S. President Donald Trump's insistence that Europe take more responsibility for its own security prompted Brussels to form the $175.6 billion US Security Action for Europe (SAFE) fund.

The money allocated to Poland means that it will be the biggest beneficiary of the scheme.

Deputy Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote on X that the funds will be used for "air and missile defence, artillery systems, ammunition purchases, drones and anti-drone systems."

Poland is the biggest spender on its armed forces relative to the size of its economy in NATO and plans to spend 4.8 per cent of GDP on defence in 2026.

Poland has been keeping a close eye on objects entering its airspace since a stray Ukrainian missile struck a southern Polish village in 2022, killing two people, a few months into Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But there have been no reports of Polish or allied defence systems destroying drones.

A dog accompanies Polish soldiers walking along the Polish-Belarusian border in Usnarz Gorny, Poland, in August 2023. Poland has said it will close its border with Belarus while Russia holds military exercises there this week. (Kuba Stezycki/Reuters)

It said earlier it would close its border with Belarus on Thursday at midnight local time as a result of Russia-led military exercises taking place in Belarus.

Russia and Belarus's large-scale military exercises, known as the Zapad drills, have raised security concerns in neighbouring NATO member states Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

Lithuania said defences along its border with Belarus and Russia would be strengthened due to the exercises.