Polish and NATO forces demolished drones that violated Poland’s airspace during a Russian air attack against Ukraine, a country with which it shares border.
The Polish authorities described the incursion as an “unprecedented violation” of their territory and activated article 4 of NATO, which allows requesting a formal consultation with the alliance at a time when the territorial integrity of a Member State is threatened.
The president of Poland, Donald Tusk warned that the situation is “significantly more dangerous than all the previous ones” and pointed out that the perspective of a great military conflict is “closer than at any other time since World War II.”
For his part, Pavel Muravyeika, Vice Minister of Defense of Belarus, an allied country in Russia, said the drones entered the Polish airspace accidentally, after their navigation systems were blocked.
On Wednesday morning, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on the matter at his daily telephone conference with the press. “It does not correspond to us to do it. It is a matter of the Ministry of Defense.”
A little later, that ministry published a statement in which he said he had made “a massive attack against military and industrial objectives in western Ukraine, including attack drones”, but added that “there were no plans to attack facilities in Polish territory.”
He adds that “the maximum scope of the Russian drones that allegedly entered Poland does not exceed 700 km. However, we are willing to consult with the Ministry of Polish Defense on this matter.”
Meanwhile, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) said it was “committed to defending every kilometer of its member countries, including our airspace.”
Poland is one of the 32 members of NATO, a security alliance that was formed in 1949 with the main objective of preventing the Soviet Union from expanding in Europe.
One of its basic principles is based on its article 5, which stipulates that an attack against one or more members will be considered an attack against all
With this incursion that has been convicted of a large number of European countries, a key question arises.
Was it an “accident” as the Belaruse authorities suggest or was it a deliberate action ordered by Putin?
“Difficult to believe”
Tusk said that throughout the night the Polish army registered 19 incursions with drones in the Polish airspace.
Speaking to Parliament, he said that “three or four” drones had been demolished by Poles and NATO airplanes.
In addition, he said that a significant number of drones entered the country from Belarus.
Kaja Kallas, vice president of the European Commission, described the intrusion as “the most serious violation of European airspace by Russia since the war began.”
“There are indications that it was intentional, not accidental,” he wrote in X.
For his part, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Petro Fiala, said it is “difficult to believe” that the attack was a coincidence and accused Russia of “systematically investigating how far it can go.”
For his part, Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said on social networks that the attack was premeditated.
“Russia attacked Poland with drones with concrete intentions, deliberately and thinking about it, he wrote.
Incursion that seems deliberate
Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent explains that the loss of a single drone in Poland’s airspace has already happened before and can effectively be ruled out as an accident.
But “the incursion of several drones seems much more deliberate.”
Gardner clarifies that the drones in question were not the small grid devices that hunt soldiers in the trenches with a grenade or a hung projectile.
It states that it was much larger aircraft, which measure around 3.5 m long and 2.5 m wide, without pilot and full of powerful explosives.
“All the conversations that I have recently had with NATO military officials or with academic experts on what could be Russia’s next actions conclude that Moscow will want to test NATO determination in some way,” says the BBC security expert. .
“Given the apparent sympathy of Donald Trump by Vladimir Putin, there is some skepticism about whether his administration would really go to the help of an NATO member if he was attacked near his borders.”
For his part, Sarah Rainsford, correspondent for the BBC for Eastern Europe, said that “this seems like a escalation by Moscow, testing how the West will respond.”
For analysts in the region it seems clear that both the attack against the headquarters of the Ukraine Government in Kyiv last Sunday, such as this incursion with drones in Polish territory, is a Moscow strategy to observe the reaction of both NATO and the West, including the United States.
“The response of the West has not been enough”
For Vitaliy Shevchenko, editor of Russia of BBC Monitoring, the Russian incursion in Polish territory is “another example of the failure of the policy of the West” in the face of the Russian threat and its war in Ukraine.
“For years, the response from the West to Russian attacks in Ukraine has been moderate in the face of the fear of causing an even more aggressive and violent response by Moscow,” says Shevchenko.
“These fears, as well as financial limitations, have prevented Ukraine allies from providing more and better weapons, much less deploying troops on the ground,” he continues.
The Russian expert adds that Moscow does not have the same concern and does not fear the situation either by intensifying air attacks against Ukraine, attacking the civilian population or involving North Korean military.
“The answer we have seen so far from the West has not been enough to make Putin the issue of consequences if he decides to send drones to Poland.”
With additional information from Adam Easton and Vitaliy Shevchenko.
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