Poland says air defenses didn't detect a Russian drone entering its airspace, and that it only realized in the morning
No one was injured, but Poland's defense minister, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, called the incident a provocation against NATO.
"Russia is once again provoking NATO countries following drone incidents that have taken place in Romania, Lithuania, Latvia," he said, accusing the Kremlin of 10 total airspace violations since 2022.
In a press conference, officials said the drone likely entered Polish airspace on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
Gen. Dariusz Malinowski, deputy commander of Poland's Armed Forces Operational Command, said air defenses were put on alert that evening during one of Russia's nightly drone and missile waves against Ukraine.
Warsaw regularly activates its air defenses along its border as a precaution during such attacks, especially after a stray Ukrainian defensive missile killed two Polish citizens in November 2022.
Malinowski said Polish air defenses were alerted at 10 p.m. on Tuesday night, alongside "standard measures designed to seal our border."
"The entire target detection system was activated. In addition, the forces and means for countering missiles were put on combat readiness, and a Mi-24 helicopter was also raised, which patrolled the eastern part, the Ukrainian part of our border," he told reporters.
By midnight, the Polish military stood down because it had not detected any abnormalities or threats, Malinowski said.
"Nothing had happened that would show us that something was out of the ordinary," he said.
But authorities found out in the morning that a drone had exploded in a cornfield in Osiny, a village nearly 70 miles from Poland's border with Ukraine and roughly 400 miles from mainland Russia.
"This morning, after sunrise, we received information, as has already been said here, about an object that exploded very close to Łuków," Malinowski said.
A stealthy decoy drone with Chinese parts
The general said that preliminary investigations indicated the drone was "flying very low" to avoid radar detection.
"In our assessment, this drone is designed to be very difficult to detect, and that is indeed the case," he said.
However, Malinowski also said that it's still unclear if the drone was flown deliberately into Poland. Neither is it immediately clear exactly when the drone entered Polish airspace.
Authorities did not confirm the drone's flight path. A drone launched from mainland Russia would have to pass through either Belarus or Ukraine to enter Polish airspace.
Kaliningrad, a militarized Russian exclave, sits directly on Poland's northern border, though it's unclear if investigators think the drone launch may have originated from the region.
Malinowski added that while search teams were still collecting the drone's remains, initial evidence pointed to it being equipped with a Chinese engine and a "self-destructive warhead."
That could mean the drone was a decoy. Russia commonly deploys the Shahed, a long-range attack drone designed by Iran. One of its locally produced versions, called the Gerbera, is designed to mimic the loitering munition's signature and appearance while carrying a much weaker warhead.
Reuters cited a Polish defense ministry spokesperson saying that the crashed drone was a Russian version of the Shahed.
Ukrainian forces have long said that they often find Chinese parts within destroyed Russian-produced Shahed drones. European officials also say some Russian and Chinese companies are actively collaborating on the Shahed, helping the Kremlin's forces to vastly improve the loitering munition's attack capabilities.
The drone crash comes amid already tense negotiations that the US is trying to broker this month between Russia, Ukraine, and Europe.
Radosław Sikorski, Poland's foreign minister, said in a statement on Wednesday that his country would "protest against the perpetrator."
"Another violation of our airspace from the East confirms that Poland's most important mission vis-à-vis NATO is to defend our own territory," Sikorski wrote.
The Russian embassy in Warsaw, the Russian defense ministry, and the Russian foreign ministry did not respond to comment requests sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Putin's demand to Ukraine: give up Donbas, no NATO and no Western troops, sources say
By Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW (Reuters) -Vladimir Putin is demanding that Ukraine give up all of the eastern Donbas region, renounce ambitions to join NATO, remain neutral and keep Western troops out of the country, three sources familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking told Reuters. The Russian president met Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday for the first Russia-U.S. summit in more than four years and spent almost all of their three-hour closed meeting discussing what a compromise on Ukraine might look like, according to the sources who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. Speaking afterwards beside Trump, Putin said the meeting would hopefully open up the road to peace in Ukraine - but neither leader gave specifics about what they discussed. In the most detailed Russian-based reporting to date on Putin's offer at the summit, Reuters was able to outline the contours of what the Kremlin would like to see in a possible peace deal to end a war that has killed and injured hundreds of thousands of people. In essence, the Russian sources said, Putin has compromised on territorial demands he laid out in June 2024, which required Kyiv to cede the entirety of the four provinces Moscow claims as part of Russia: Dontesk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine - which make up the Donbas - plus Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south. Kyiv rejected those terms as tantamount to surrender. In his new proposal, the Russian president has stuck to his demand that Ukraine completely withdraw from the parts of the Donbas it still controls, according to the three sources. In return, though, Moscow would halt the current front lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, they added. Russia controls about 88% of the Donbas and 73% of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, according to U.S. estimates and open-source data. Moscow is also willing to hand over the small parts of the Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine it controls as part of a possible deal, the sources said. Putin is sticking, too, to his previous demands that Ukraine give up its NATO ambitions and for a legally binding pledge from the U.S.-led military alliance that it will not expand further eastwards, as well as for limits on the Ukrainian army and an agreement that no Western troops will be deployed on the ground in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force, the sources said. Yet the two sides remain far apart, more than three years after Putin ordered thousands of Russian troops into Ukraine in a full-scale invasion that followed the annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and prolonged fighting in the country's east between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops. Ukraine's foreign ministry had no immediate comment on the proposals. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly dismissed the idea of withdrawing from internationally recognised Ukrainian land as part of a deal, and has said the industrial Donbas region serves as a fortress holding back Russian advances deeper into Ukraine. "If we're talking about simply withdrawing from the east, we cannot do that," he told reporters in comments released by Kyiv on Thursday. "It is a matter of our country's survival, involving the strongest defensive lines." Joining NATO, meanwhile, is a strategic objective enshrined in the country's constitution and one which Kyiv sees as its most reliable security guarantee. Zelenskiy said it was not up to Russia to decide on the alliance's membership. The White House and NATO didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the Russian proposals. Political scientist Samuel Charap, chair in Russia and Eurasia Policy at RAND, a U.S.-based global policy think-tank, said any requirement for Ukraine to withdraw from the Donbas remained a non-starter for Kyiv, both politically and strategically. "Openness to 'peace' on terms categorically unacceptable to the other side could be more of a performance for Trump than a sign of a true willingness to compromise," he added. "The only way to test that proposition is to begin a serious process at the working level to hash out those details." TRUMP: PUTIN WANTS TO SEE IT ENDED Russian forces currently control a fifth of Ukraine, an area about the size of the American state of Ohio, according to U.S. estimates and open-source maps. The three sources close to the Kremlin said the summit in the Alaskan city of Anchorage had ushered in the best chance for peace since the war began because there had been specific discussions about Russia's terms and Putin had shown a willingness to give ground. "Putin is ready for peace - for compromise. That is the message that was conveyed to Trump," one of the people said. The sources cautioned that it was unclear to Moscow whether Ukraine would be prepared to cede the remains of the Donbas, and that if it did not then the war would continue. Also unclear was whether or not the United States would give any recognition to Russian-held Ukrainian territory, they added. A fourth source said that though economic issues were secondary for Putin, he understood the economic vulnerability of Russia and the scale of the effort needed to go far further into Ukraine. Trump has said he wants to end the "bloodbath" of the war and be remembered as a "peacemaker president". He said on Monday he had begun arranging a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, to be followed by a trilateral summit with the U.S. president. "I believe Vladimir Putin wants to see it ended," Trump said beside Zelenskiy in the Oval office. "I feel confident we are going to get it solved." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Putin was prepared to meet Zelenskiy but that all issues had to be worked through first and there was a question about Zelenskiy's authority to sign a peace deal. Putin has repeatedly raised doubts about Zelenskiy's legitimacy as his term in office was due to expire in May 2024 but the war means no new presidential election has yet been held. Kyiv says Zelenskiy remains the legitimate president. The leaders of Britain, France and Germany have said they are sceptical that Putin wants to end the war. SECURITY GUARANTEES FOR UKRAINE Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff was instrumental in paving the way for the summit, and the latest drive for peace, according to two of the Russian sources. Witkoff met Putin in the Kremlin on August 6 with Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov. At the meeting, Putin conveyed clearly to Witkoff that he was ready to compromise and set out the contours of what he could accept for peace, according to two Russian sources. If Russia and Ukraine could reach an agreement, then there are various options for a formal deal - including a possible three-way Russia-Ukraine-U.S. deal that is recognised by the U.N. Security Council, one of the sources said. Another option is to go back to the failed 2022 Istanbul agreements, where Russia and Ukraine discussed Ukraine's permanent neutrality in return for security guarantees from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, the sources added. "There are two choices: war or peace, and if there is no peace, then there is more war," one of the people said. Solve the daily Crossword
The Hill
26 minutes ago
- The Hill
Witkoff calls Trump the ‘Michael Jordan' of dealmaking amid Russia-Ukraine talks
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff on Wednesday recounted the Alaska summit last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling President Trump the 'Michael Jordan' of dealmaking. In a radio interview on the 'Cats & Cosby Show,' Witkoff described to hosts John Catsimatidis and Rita Cosby what he and Secretary of State Marco Rubio witnessed behind closed doors ahead of Trump's high-stakes meeting with the Kremlin's leader. 'When the doors closed, John and Rita, in Alaska, I and Marco got to witness the great master, master dealmaker-in-chief, Donald J. Trump,' Witkoff said. 'And it was quite extraordinary to watch.' 'We've all grown up in New York and we've all done deals, but President Trump is, you know, he's the Michael Jordan of this business. In fact, he's the Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Albert Einstein all put together,' Witkoff continued. Witkoff has held several sessions with Putin in recent months as the Trump administration has sought to broker a diplomatic end to the war between Russia and Ukraine. While his own talks with Putin were constructive, Witkoff said in the interview that Trump has 'got this uncanny ability to get to the right place' and was able to make significantly more progress in his meeting with the Russian leader last Friday. 'I think he felt that we made a lot of progress in a one-on-one with Putin,' Witkoff said. 'What we were able to determine, and I hope it holds, that the Russians are prepared to be accommodating — more accommodating than we had seen in five or six sessions that I had with him, with President Putin.' 'They were positive and constructive sessions,' Witkoff said about his own meetings with Putin, 'but the president was able to extract more concessions in that Alaska summit — significantly more — with regard to the regions, with regard to the territories, with regard to security protocols.' 'A lot of things were given or were offered up as a compromise, as an accommodation, by President Putin. That is a really big deal because… that's the deal making business,' Witkoff said, 'Narrowing the issues between the parties. And that's what happened, by the way, in Alaska, we narrowed the issues and the divide.' Trump emerged from the meeting Friday with no concrete wins but touted the progress made behind closed doors. He then met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders at the White House on Monday to discuss next steps. Trump has said the next step is for Zelensky and Putin to meet for a bilateral meeting, after which Trump said he would join for a trilateral meeting. Witkoff said during the interview he expects a trilateral meeting, if it takes place, would produce the most progress. 'The next move is going to be very telling as to whether Zelensky and Putin meet together. And I think ultimately, if that happens, if that meeting happens — and I believe it will, I'm certainly hopeful it will — that will, in my view, potentially lead to a trilateral between the three, and there, I think you'd see a lot more progress,' Witkoff said.
Newsweek
28 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Russian Strikes Hit US-Owned Factory
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Russia's latest overnight strikes, which hit deep into Western Ukraine, have hit the Flex electronics factory, injuring six employees. Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, said around 600 nightshift employees were present in the factory at the time. "The message is clear: Russia is not looking for peace. Russia is attacking American business in Ukraine, humiliating American business," Hunder told the Associated Press. The factory stands far from the battlefront in eastern and southern Ukraine, and mark the deepest strikes into the embattled nation since the start of the conflict in February 2022, when Russia attempted to invade and take control of Kyiv and other major cities. Hunder said that the invasion has now damaged over half the chamber's approximately 600 member businesses in the country. President Donald Trump sought an economic partnership with Ukraine, tied together most closely through a mining agreement between the two nations, as a means of deterring Russian President Vladimir Putin's ambitions for Ukraine. This article includes reporting by The Associated Press. This is a breaking news story. Updates will follow.
