Polish military shoots down Russian drones overnight, government claims «act of aggression»

During Russia's massive night attack on Ukraine, drones violated Polish airspace several times. On the orders of the command, Polish aircraft used weapons to neutralise the targets, and some of the drones were shot down.

Four airports were temporarily closed due to the incident — two in Warsaw, as well as in Rzeszów and Lublin. The reason was called «unplanned military activities related to national security».

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed the numerous airspace violations and said he was in constant contact with the president, the defence minister and the NATO secretary general.

Defence Minister Vladyslav Kosinyak-Kamysh said that territorial defence forces were involved in the search for the wreckage. Residents were urged not to approach possible drone fragments and to inform the police.

The Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces called the incident «an act of aggression», noting that Polish and allied radars had detected dozens of targets, some of which posed a threat.

The Polish Territorial Defence Forces reported that they could reduce the reporting time for TDF reservists in some voivodeships.

In the voivodeships bordering Ukraine — Podlaskie, Mazowieckie, Lubelskie and Podkarpackie — reservists must report for duty no later than 6 hours in advance. In other regions, this time is longer, and in the west of the country, there are currently no plans to call up reservists during the day.

As a reminder, in 2022, Polish media reported two deaths after a missile hit Przewodów, a Polish village near the border with Ukraine. At the same time, Russia denied that two of its missiles had landed on the territory of NATO member Poland.

Neighbouring Moldova was also affected, having been left partially without power due to Russian shelling of Ukraine on 15 November.