Polish president Karol Nawrocki has praised his country’s air force pilots for “passing the test” posed by the “provocation” of Wednesday’s Russian drone incursions.
In advance of a UN Security Council meeting on Friday, Polish investigators say many of the 16 drones recovered so far on its territory were unarmed, foam-and-wood Russian decoys.
Mr Nawrocki said on a visit to an airbase in western Poland on Wednesday his country would “not be intimidated by Russian drones”.
“This was a provocation meant to test not only our military capacity, but also the ability to react of Poland’s political leadership – the president and the prime minister – as well as the functioning of Nato’s response mechanisms,” said Mr Nawrocki.
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As Nato members co-ordinate a senior council meeting, its Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Alexus Gregory Grynkewich, warned on Thursday that “we do not yet know if this was an intentional act or an unintentional act” by Russia.
Meanwhile, Gen Wiesław Kukuła, chief of staff of the Polish army, said Belarus had given advance notice of the approaching drones, the last of which was shot down at 6.38am on Wednesday.
This advance notice was “surprising”, he said, “but we didn’t reject it and it was helpful to us”.
He activated Polish air defences and gave Polish and Dutch pilots pre-authorisation to shoot down any missiles or drones with warheads threatening Polish territory but not smaller objects.
“We told them: if you have a clear shot – do it,” he said. “But we don’t waste resources on the smallest objects testing our defences.”
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has backed Polish demands for an expanded air defence system across Europe.
Polish officials have said it is ruinous to use missiles costing €300,000 to destroy cheap Russian drones and will deploy military staff to Ukraine to learn more on downing enemy drones.
Mr Zelenskiy said: “No one in the world has enough missiles to shoot down all the different types of drones.”
Polish Lieut Gen Jarosław Gromadziński told journalists “it’s not important that we destroyed those drones” but that the most important thing now is what Polish diplomacy and the allies will do.
A lukewarm response from Nato partners would, he warned, “embolden the Russian side and we will have drones more often and deeper in our country”.
A German government spokesman said the country will strengthen its commitment to Nato’s eastern border and “expand air policing over Poland”.
While Russian diplomats were summoned on Thursday in the Netherlands, Spain and the Czech Republic over the incursions launched largely from Belarus, US envoys visited the capital Minsk on Thursday to secure the release of 52 prisoners and ease US sanctions against the Belarus state airline Belavia.
As European leaders rushed to condemn the Russian incursion and pledge allied support on Wednesday, Mr Trump wrote on social media: “What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!”
The US ambassador to Nato Matthew Whitaker’s message for Warsaw was: “We stand by our Nato allies in the face of these airspace violations and will defend every inch of Nato territory.”
Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskiy and US special envoy Keith Kellogg were due to meet in Kyiv on Thursday evening, according to Ukrainian media.
