NATO fighter jets shot down several Russian drones that violated member state Poland’s airspace on early Wednesday. The incident risks to escalate the war in neighbouring Ukraine and marks the first time that shots were fire by NATO since the start of the hostilities.
The Russian drones were intercepted by Polish and Dutch fighter jets with the help of Italian and German forces, officials stated. Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday that around a dozen drones were shot down over Poland, prompting Warsaw to invoke the Article 4 of the NATO treaty, meaning the alliance’s main political decision-making body will now meet to discuss the situation and its next steps. Tusk said there were 19 intrusions of Poland’s airspace, and that a “large proportion” of the drones entered it from Russia’s ally Belarus. Addressing the Parliament, Tusk said Warsaw was closer to a conflict since World War II as the country was facing an “enemy that does not hide its hostile intentions.”
Netherlands’ defense minister Ruben Brekelmans revealed that it were Dutch fighter jets that shot down the multiple Russian drones that crossed into Poland overnight. Brekelmans stressed that the latest incident illustrates that Russia remains a "broader threat to Europe". Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Radosław Sikorski described the Russian intrusion as “deliberate” given the large number of drones. “When one or two drones does it, it is possible that it was a technical malfunction. In this case, there were 19 breaches and it simply defies imagination that that could be accidental,” Sikorski said. Polish Interior Ministry spokesperson Karolina Gałecka said one of the drones hit a residential building in Wyryki village, in eastern Poland, near the border with both Ukraine and Belarus.
The drones intruded into Poland’s airspace during the Russian attack on Ukraine that involved 415 drones, one ballistic missile and 42 cruise missiles, and eight drones that crossed the Ukrainian state border flying in Poland’s direction, the Ukrainian Air Forces said Wednesday.
