KYIV/WARSAW: Poland is the closest it has been to open conflict since World War Two, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday after the NATO member state shot down Russian drones over its territory.
He said Poland had asked NATO to open consultations under Article 4 of its treaty, which states that members of the Western military alliance will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territory, political independence or security of any of them is threatened.
Tusk told parliament there had been 19 intrusions into Polish airspace overnight. The incursions heightened tensions that were already simmering after previous incursions by drones.
“I have no reason to claim we’re on the brink of war, but a line has been crossed, and it’s incomparably more dangerous than before,” he said.
“This situation brings us the closest we have been to open conflict since World War Two.”
Tusk said the shooting down of three drones had been confirmed, and it was likely a fourth had been downed.
“The fact that these drones, which posed a security threat, were shot down changes the political situation. Therefore, allied consultations took the form of a formal request to activate Article 4 of the NATO Treaty,” Tusk said.
Interior Ministry spokesperson Karolina Galecka said Poland had found seven drones and debris from a missile. A drone or similar object struck a residential building in Wyryki in eastern Poland but nobody was injured, the local mayor told state-run news channel TVP Info.
Elsewhere in the eastern Lublin region, police said they found a damaged drone in the village of Czosnowka.
The District Prosecutor’s Office in Zamosc, also in the Lublin region, said it had been informed of the discovery of drone components, near a cemetery in the town of Czesniki.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that the Russian drones “aimed toward” Poland forced Warsaw to scramble air defenses.
“It was not just one Shahed that could be called an accident, but at least eight strike drones aimed toward Poland,” Zelensky said, referring to Iranian-designed drones deployed by Moscow, adding that the incident represented “An extremely dangerous precedent for Europe.”
Italy firmly condemns the violations of Polish airspace by Russian drones, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Wednesday.
“The event is very serious and unacceptable, it is an offense to the internal security of the entire euro-atlantic area,” Tajani wrote on X.
