Poland on high alert, condemns 'act of aggression' after shooting down 3 Russian drones in its airspace

polska crack shoot down drones that entered its air space on wed, the first time a NATO member is known to have fired shots since Russia invaded in Ukraine in 2022.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk told parliament there had been 19 intrusions into Polish airspace overnight and that hhe had activated Article 4 of NATO's treaty, under which alliance members can demand consultations with their allies.

"I have no reason to claim we're on the brink of war, but a line has been crossed, and it's incomparably more dangerous than before," he said.

"This situation brings us the closest we have been to open conflict since World War Two."

Tusk said the shooting down of three drones had been confirmed, and it was likely a fourth had been downed.

Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, who serves as defence minister, thanked NATO Air Command and The Royal Netherlands Air and Space Force for supporting the action with F-35 fighter jets.

The Polish armed forces said Wednesday morning that a search for possible crash sites is ongoing and urged people not to approach, touch or move any objects they see, warning that they may pose a threat and could contain hazardous material.

Poland has found seven drones and parts of one missile following intrusion of drones into Polish airspace overnight, interior ministry spokesperson Karolina Galecka told a news briefing.

Chopin airport in Warsaw, the country's largest, closed its airspace for several hours before reopening. It said there would be disruptions and delays through the day. The airport in the city of Lublin, in eastern Poland, remained closed.

NATO said its air defences supported Poland, and chief spokesperson Allison Hart said the military organization's 32 national envoys will discuss the matter at a pre-planned meeting.

Col. Martin O'Donnell, NATO's Supreme Allied Powers Europe, said: "This is the first time NATO planes have engaged potential threats in Allied airspace."

Several European officials described the incursion as intentional and a sign of Russian escalation.

"Russia's war is escalating, not ending. We must raise the cost on Moscow, strengthen support for Ukraine, and invest in Europe's defence," European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a post on X.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen called for more sanctions on Russia, and said the EU was preparing sanctions on 'shadow fleet' tankers that transport its oil and third countries that buy it.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia used 415 drones and 40 missiles in attacks on Ukraine overnight, adding that at least eight Iranian-made Shahed drones had been aimed toward Poland.

"An extremely dangerous precedent for Europe," he said. "A strong response is needed — and it can only be a joint response by all partners: Ukraine, Poland, all Europeans, the United States."

Most of Ukraine, including western regions of Volyn and Lviv which border Poland, had been under air raid alerts nearly all night, according to Ukraine's air force.

Countries bordering on Ukraine have reported occasional Russian missiles or drones entering their airspace in the past during the war, but not on such a large scale, and they are not known to have shot them down. Two people were killed in Poland in 2022 by a Ukrainian air defence missile that went astray.

Last month, Poland's defence minister said 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. 

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Leaders in the strategically located Baltic states of Lithuanian, Latvia and Estonia — the NATO members that are most nervous about Russian aggression — expressed deep concerns about Wednesday's developments.

A Russian diplomat said on Wednesday that Poland had not given any evidence that the drones shot down in Poland were of Russian origin, Russia's RIA state news agency reported.

"We see the accusations as groundless. No evidence that these drones are of Russian origin has been presented," Andrey Ordash, Russia's charge d'affaires in Poland, was quoted as saying.

The Russian Defence Ministry said in its morning report on Wednesday that it had destroyed 122 Ukrainian drones over various Russian regions overnight, including over the illegally annexed Crimea and areas of the Black Sea.

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

Republican representative Joe Wilson, a senior member of the foreign affairs committee, said in a post on X that Russia was "attacking NATO ally Poland" with drones, calling it an "act of war."

He urged U.S. President Donald Trump to respond with sanctions "that will bankrupt the Russian war machine."

Trump, who warmly welcomed Putin in Alaska at a summit in August, and has warned the Russian leader of "severe consequences" if he wasn't serious about efforts to reach a peace deal after over three years of war, but his White House has yet to apply additional sanctions on Russia.

The confrontation comes as Poland is expected to get $51.3 billion US under a European Union program to boost its defence capabilities.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Trump's insistence that Europe take more responsibility for its own security prompted Brussels to form the $175.6 billion US Security Action for Europe (SAFE) fund.

Poland had earlier said it would close its border with Belarus on Thursday at midnight local time as a result of Russia-led military exercises taking place in Belarus.

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