A Polish air force F-16 is flanked on either side by Dassault Rafale fighter jets as they perform a flyover during the National Army Day military parade in Warsaw, Poland, on August 15, 2025.
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Poland’s military on Wednesday decried an “unprecedented violation” as the country’s airspace was breached by a number of Russian drones that were shot down.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Poland’s military said it scrambled its own and NATO air defenses to take down drones that entered its airspace amid a widespread Russian attack in western Ukraine.
In a social media post, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he was in constant communication with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and with the country’s allies.
The incident marks the first time that Poland engaged assets in its airspace since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
It is not the first time Polish territory has been embroiled in the neighboring conflict: in late 2022, a missile struck Polish territory in the village of Przewodów, near the country’s border with Ukraine, killing two people. It was believed to have been fired by Ukrainian air defense forces to repel a Russian attack, while NATO said Russian forces were ultimately to blame.
The Russian drone development on Wednesday comes as the European Union steps up its efforts to impose what would be the first coordinated transatlantic measures against the Kremlin since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to office.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Wednesday said that Russian drones entered Polish airspace during what he described as a “massive” attack on Ukraine. In a post on X, he said that Russian President Vladimir Putin keeps escalating and expanding his war, “and testing the West.”
The Ukrainian official called for partners to “urgently strengthen” Ukraine’s air defense and said sanctions “must be ramped up without delay.”
Russia has not yet commented on the incident.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
