Poland engages Russian drones in its airspace, urges people to stay indoors

Emergency response vehicles are parked next to a Turkish Airlines Boeing 777-300 aircraft en route from Istanbul to San Franscisco which made an emergency landing at the Warsaw's Chopin airport, in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, July 30, 2015. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)

Poland’s military said it scrambled both its own and NATO allied air defences to shoot down Russian drones on Wednesday after they crossed from neighbouring Ukraine, the first time in the Ukraine war that Warsaw has engaged Russian assets in its airspace.

“During today’s attack by the Russian Federation targeting objects on the territory of Ukraine, our airspace was repeatedly violated by drone-type objects,” Poland’s military command said in a statement.

“An operation is underway aimed at identifying and neutralizing these objects ... 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 added.

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.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said 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.

Russia’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

Earlier, Ukraine’s air force reported that Russian drones had entered NATO-member Poland’s airspace, posing a threat to the city of Zamosc, but it subsequently removed that statement from the Telegram messaging app.

In the United States, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said 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.

Poland has been on high alert for 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.