Scrambled fighter jets to shoot down Russian drones over Poland: NATO

More than a dozen Russian drones entered Poland overnight, prompting NATO to scramble fighter jets to shoot them down in what Western officials described Wednesday as a dangerous escalation of the war in neighboring Ukraine.

It was the first time in the history of NATO that alliance fighters had engaged enemy targets in allied airspace, officials said.

It prompted Poland's government to invoke Article 4 of the NATO treaty, a rarely used mechanism triggered when a member is under threat that enables a formal discussion within the alliance about it.

"We are dealing with a large-scale provocation," Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland said. "The situation is serious, and no one doubts that we must prepare for various scenarios."

Details of the drone incursion remained murky. It was unclear whether Moscow had intentionally sought to expand the conflict. It was also unknown whether the drones were the Shahed-style attack weapons regularly used to terrorise Ukrainian cities or unarmed dummy drones often sent to fool Ukrainian air defences.

The crossover into Poland came amid a large-scale drone and missile attack on Ukraine, officials said. According to Ukraine's air force, as many as 415 drones were launched in that attack, and at least eight were detected crossing the border with Poland.

Tusk, according to Polish television, put the number of drones on Polish territory at 19, though he did not say how many were shot down.

NATO air forces scrabbled to confront the incursion. They included Polish F-16 fighters, Dutch F-35 fighters, German Patriot air defence systems and an Italian AWACS surveillance aircraft, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said. There were no immediate reports of casualties in Poland.

Russian drones have crossed into Poland before, including twice last week. But the apparent scale of the infiltration and the joint NATO response was a startling reminder of the risk that the war in Ukraine could escalate into direct confrontation between Russia and NATO.

The Kremlin and its allies delivered mixed messages about the drones. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov accused the "leadership of the EU and NATO" of leveling accusations against Russia "on a daily basis" without providing evidence, though he did not deny Russian involvement. Russia's Defence Ministry said it had "not planned" to hit any targets in Poland and suggested that Poland was out of range of Russian drones, which is not true.

Their statements seemed to contradict an earlier comment from Russia's neighbor and ally Belarus, which framed the episode as an accident caused when the drones veered off course after encountering electronic warfare measures.

Polish and other NATO officials said they were awaiting the results of a military assessment before making conclusions -- and deciding on a response -- though some said the idea that so many Russian drones could accidentally cross the border was unlikely.

"The wreckage of the downed drones is being analyzed, but there is a strong indication at this moment that these were not random incidents but planned action," said Radosław Fogiel, the deputy chair of the foreign affairs committee in the Polish parliament

In a news conference, Rutte said Russia's intentions were beside the point. "It is absolutely reckless. It is absolutely dangerous," he said.

Addressing President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Rutte said: "Stop the war in Ukraine. Stop the escalating war, which he is now basically mounting on innocent civilians and civilian infrastructure. Stop violating allied airspace. And know that we stand ready, that we are vigilant, and that we will defend every inch of NATO territory."

Even an accidental incursion, officials and experts say, could quickly spiral out of control. Poland and other Eastern European countries are already on high alert amid fears that the Kremlin's expansionist designs could extend beyond Ukraine's borders into the territories that once made up the communist bloc. Poland has bolstered military spending and has vowed to double the size of its armed forces to around half a million personnel. In May, Tusk openly flirted with the idea of acquiring nuclear weapons.

"I assess this 'incursion' as a deliberate test of Poland's resilience, the cohesion of our leadership, and the awareness of our society," Gen. Tomasz Piotrowski, who served as the operational commander of Poland's armed forces until 2023. "It appears to be well prepared by Russia in cooperation with Belarus."

By invoking Article 4 of the NATO treaty, Poland now has the ability to bring the issue before the North Atlantic Council, the alliance's principal decision-making body. Since NATO's founding in 1949, Article 4 has been invoked seven times, most recently on Feb. 24, 2022, the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Early Wednesday, airspace was temporarily closed over parts of Poland, halting flights at some airports, including the country's biggest, Warsaw Chopin Airport. Its airspace later reopened, but the airport said disruptions and delays would persist through the day.

The sounds of fighter jets and explosions jolted Poles awake in the country's eastern region. Later in the morning, authorities sent an emergency alert to phones around the country asking to inform the authorities of any wreckage from falling drones. "Do not get close to them," the alert said.

Mariusz Kuracki, the mayor of Wahlewo in eastern Poland, said he was getting ready for work at about 6:45 a.m. when he was startled by two explosions.

"The windows in our house even shook, you know. You could feel the shock wave, and it was probably that drone shot down," he said in an interview.

Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine's foreign minister, said the incursions demonstrated the need to let neighboring countries use air defenses to intercept drones and missiles in Ukrainian airspace.

"Russian drones flying into Poland during the massive attack on Ukraine show that Putin's sense of impunity keeps growing because he was not properly punished for his previous crimes," Sybiha said.

Ukrainians have grown accustomed to spending sleepless nights tracking drones across the skies using a number of channels on the messenger app Telegram devoted to the purpose. Just before midnight, they watched as some of those drones appeared to overshoot their country and tried to raise the alarm.

"Poles come on get up, you are being attacked, NATO hello!" one of the channels posted.

Putin recently emerged from international isolation, traveling to Alaska in August at the behest of President Donald Trump, for what was billed by the White House as a summit to end the war. Those talks appear to have yielded no progress. Putin has given little indication that he is prepared to make any concessions, and Russia's military has only ramped up its drone and missile attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks.

On Sunday, Russia launched its largest drone assault in the war, Ukrainian authorities said, and on Tuesday, a Russian bomb struck a crowd of older villagers lined up to receive pension payments in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 25 people.

For many Western officials, the drones shot down in Poland were another sign that Russia was not, and has never been, serious about peace on anyone's terms but Putin's.

"Repeated violations of NATO airspace by Russian drones are fair warning that Vladimir Putin is testing our resolve to protect Poland and the Baltic nations," said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate. "After the carnage Putin continues to visit on Ukraine, these incursions cannot be ignored."