Poland on Saturday briefly deployed aircraft its airspace in a “preventive” operation amid threats of drone strikes in neighbouring, officials said.
An alert that was issued in the country lasted up to two hours before being cancelled. The airport in eastern Lublin city was shut at the time of the alert.
Posting on X on Saturday afternoon, Poland’s military’s operational command wrote that ground-based air defense and reconnaissance systems were on high alert, stressing that these actions were “preventive in nature” and aimed at protecting the country’s airspace. Later on that day, the operational command wrote that the operation had been completed and the ground-based and reconnaissance systems had returned to normal.
The alert came after over a doen Russian drones crossed into Poland on Wednesday, prompting Poland invoke Article 4 of NATO treaty. Multiple Russian drones were shot down by fighter jets sent by NATO allies. Russia’s incursion into Russia’s airspace that was the largest of its kind since full-fledged invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Kremlin said it did not target Poland, while its ally Belarus claimed the drones went astray due to jamming. However, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk and other officials stressed the Russian drone incursion was “deliberate” and not an accident.
