Poland says it shot down Russian drones that violated its airspace during strikes on Ukraine

WARSAW Poland AP Poland stated Wednesday that multiple Russian drones entered its territory over the subject of several hours and were shot down with help from NATO allies describing the incursion as an act of aggression carried out during a wave of Russian strikes on Ukraine Russia s Defense Ministry it did not target Poland but close ally Belarus explained it tracked certain drones that lost their subject because they were jammed However several European leaders explained they believe that the incursion amounted to an intentional escalation by Russia of its war on Ukraine Poland stated particular of the drones came from Belarus where Russian and Belarusian troops have begun gathering for war games starting on Friday Polish airspace has been violated countless times since Russia s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in but there has been nothing on this scale in Poland or in any other Western nation along the eastern flank of NATO and the European Union A NATO spokesman commented it was the first time the alliance has confronted a promising threat in its airspace NATO met to discuss the case which came three days after Russia s largest aerial attack on Ukraine since the war began Russia s war is escalating not ending European Union foreign framework chief Kaja Kallas reported Last night in Poland we saw the greater part serious European airspace violation by Russia since the war began and indications suggest it was intentional not accidental The extent of the incursion was still becoming clear Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk notified parliament violations were recorded over seven hours but that information was still being gathered Eight crash sites have been revealed a administration spokesperson announced Dutch fighter jets came to Poland s aid and intercepted particular drones the Netherlands defense minister disclosed This is an act of aggression that posed a real threat to the safety of our citizens the Polish military s operational command noted on social media French President Emmanuel Macron called on Russia to put an end to this reckless escalation while Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala called the violation a test of NATO countries defense capabilities Poland says certain drones came from Belarus Tusk communicated parliament that the first violation came at approximately p m Tuesday and the last around a m on Wednesday He announced that the violations recorded so far were not the final information Earlier Defense Minister W adys aw Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote on X that more than objects crossed into Polish airspace but he did not specify an exact number What is new in the worst sense of the word is the direction from which the drones came This is the first time in this war that they did not come from Ukraine as a development of errors or minor Russian provocations For the first time a notable portion of the drones came directly from Belarus Tusk disclosed in parliament Russia s Defense Ministry explained that its overnight strikes targeted Ukraine s military-industrial complex in the western regions of the country with no planned targets on Polish territory We are ready to hold consultations with the Polish Ministry of Defense on this issue the comment explained Belarusian Maj Gen Pavel Muraveiko the chief of the General Staff chief and first deputy defense minister appeared to try to put a few distance between his country and the incursion In an online announcement he noted that as Russia and Ukraine traded drone strikes overnight Belarusian air defense forces tracked drones that lost their subject after they were jammed adding that Belarusian forces warned their Polish and Lithuanian counterparts about unidentified aircraft approaching their territory This allowed the Polish side to respond promptly to the actions of the drones by scrambling their forces on duty Muraveiko mentioned Drones were exposed in seven locations in Poland according to Karolina Galecka spokeswoman for Ministry of Interior and Administration At the eighth site objects of an unknown origin were located Bernard Blaszczuk mayor of the village of Wyryki in Lublin region reported TVP Info that a house was hit Much of the roof was ripped off He disclosed people were inside but nobody was hurt On Wednesday morning the army was keeping guard on the streets of the village as curious locals huddled together with police and firefighters to figure out what happened Poland closed part of its airspace for several hours and Warsaw s Chopin Airport suspended flights NATO members vow backing with Baltic countries rattled NATO air defenses supported Poland in what spokesman Col Martin O Donnell called the first time NATO planes have engaged probable threats in Allied airspace Tusk stated parliament consultations with allies were taking place under Article of the NATO treaty a clause that allows countries to call for urgent discussions with their allies The consultations happened at a pre-planned meeting on Wednesday They do not automatically lead to any action under Article which is NATO s collective measure guarantee Dutch F- fighter jets intercepted drones over Poland Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans stated on X And German Patriot defense systems in Poland were also placed on alert and an Italian airborne early warning plane and an aerial refueler were launched O Donnell reported NATO he revealed is committed to defending every kilometer of NATO territory including our airspace Leaders in the Baltic states of Lithuania Latvia and Estonia the NATO members majority of nervous about Russian aggression given their close proximity were among the the majority rattled and expressed deep concerns Russia is deliberately expanding its aggression posing an ever-growing threat to Europe Lithuanian President Gitanas Naus da wrote on X Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna revealed that the overnight attacks on Ukraine and violations of Polish airspace were yet another stark reminder that Russia is not just a threat to Ukraine but to all of Europe and NATO Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it an extremely dangerous precedent for Europe and called for Russia to feel the consequences Moscow dependably tests the limits of what is realizable and if it does not encounter a strong response remains at a new level of escalation he noted Not just one Shahed drone which could be dismissed as an accident but at least eight attack drones that were aimed in the direction of Poland Objects have entered Polish airspace before Poland has complained about Russian objects entering its airspace during attacks on Ukraine before In August Poland s defense minister stated that a flying object that crashed and exploded in a cornfield in eastern Poland was identified as a Russian drone and called it a provocation by Russia In March Poland scrambled jets after a Russian missile briefly passed through Polish airspace on its way to a target in western Ukraine and in a missile that was likely fired by Ukraine to intercept a Russian attack landed in Poland killing two people Russian attacks hit central and western Ukraine Meanwhile Ukraine s Air Force says Russia fired strike and decoy drones as well as cruise missiles and one ballistic missiles overnight Ukrainian air defenses intercepted or jammed drones and cruise missiles according to the statement One person was killed and one injured in Zhytomyr region overnight regional administration head Vitalii Bunechko wrote on Telegram while homes and businesses were damaged Russian drones injured three people in Ukraine s western Khmelnytskyi region its head Serhii Tiurin wrote on Telegram early Wednesday morning He disclosed a sewing factory was destroyed a gas station and vehicles were damaged and windows in several houses were blown out In Vinnytsia region Russian drones damaged civilian and industrial infrastructure according to regional head Natalia Zabolotna Nearly residential buildings were damaged and one person was injured The Russian Defense Ministry reported in its morning overview on Wednesday that it had destroyed Ukrainian drones over various Russian regions overnight including over the illegally annexed Crimea and areas of the Black Sea