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

WARSAW Poland AP Poland revealed Wednesday that multiple Russian drones entered its territory over the unit 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 stated it tracked selected drones that lost their program because they were jammed However several European leaders stated they believe that the incursion amounted to an intentional escalation by Russia of its war on Ukraine Poland noted 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 explained it was the first time the alliance has confronted a anticipated threat in its airspace NATO met to discuss the matter 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 procedures chief Kaja Kallas explained Last night in Poland we saw the 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 stated parliament violations were recorded over seven hours but that information was still being gathered Eight crash sites have been uncovered a regime spokesperson revealed Dutch fighter jets came to Poland s aid and intercepted selected drones the Netherlands defense minister noted This is an act of aggression that posed a real threat to the safety of our citizens the Polish military s operational command explained 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 several drones came from Belarus Tusk notified parliament that the first violation came at approximately p m Tuesday and the last around a m on Wednesday He mentioned that the violations recorded so far were not the final statistics 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 end of errors or minor Russian provocations For the first time a crucial portion of the drones came directly from Belarus Tusk disclosed in parliament Russia s Defense Ministry announced 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 declared Belarusian Maj Gen Pavel Muraveiko the chief of the General Staff chief and first deputy defense minister appeared to try to put certain distance between his country and the incursion In an online report he reported that as Russia and Ukraine traded drone strikes overnight Belarusian air defense forces tracked drones that lost their program 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 commented Drones were discovered 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 determined Bernard Blaszczuk mayor of the village of Wyryki in Lublin region explained TVP Info that a house was hit Much of the roof was ripped off He revealed 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 encouragement with Baltic countries rattled NATO air defenses supported Poland in what spokesman Col Martin O Donnell called the first time NATO planes have engaged possible threats in Allied airspace Tusk explained 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 guard guarantee Dutch F- fighter jets intercepted drones over Poland Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans noted 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 noted NATO he declared 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 the greater part nervous about Russian aggression given their close proximity were among the the greater part 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 disclosed 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 manageable and if it does not encounter a strong response remains at a new level of escalation he explained 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 declared 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 review 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 explained 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 assessment 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