A Polish soldier, engrossed in monitoring the latest Ukrainian bombardment from his radar post, detected an anomaly one recent night. An unusual blip appeared on his screen, its flight path distinct from the hundreds of other Russian drones saturating the skies. This particular dot was headed directly for Poland, toward his homeland.
His urgent call to commanders set in motion a military operation of a scale not witnessed in Europe for eight decades. Air raid alarms blared, and fighter jets screamed into the night. From his command center in Warsaw, Lt. Gen. Maciej Klisz marshaled a diverse NATO force of Polish, German, Italian, and Dutch soldiers. He awaited visual confirmation that these were indeed Russian drones encroaching on alliance airspace before issuing the order to fire. “There was no change to the course, so I said to my team, ‘Team, are you ready to rock ‘n’ roll?’” General Klisz recounted.
This drone incursion is the latest in a series of escalating provocations by Russian President Vladimir V. Putin against NATO nations, including acts of sabotage, assassinations, and direct military action. Just recently, three Russian fighter jets also violated Estonia’s airspace for an uncommonly long twelve minutes.
Officials and experts in Poland and across NATO territory agree on Russia’s objective: to test the limits of Western resolve, identify vulnerabilities, and prepare for potential future confrontations. Marcin Przydacz, President Karol Nawrocki of Poland’s chief foreign policy adviser, articulated Putin’s strategy clearly, stating, “If they are not stopped by someone who is strong enough or stronger than them, they always move forward.”
This incident marked the first time since World War II that Polish armed forces were mobilized to counter a direct threat to their territory, and the first time since NATO’s inception that allied forces engaged an enemy in its airspace.
Putin’s actions capitalize on a period of global instability, with ongoing conflicts, political divisions, and an unpredictable U.S. presidency all straining the security framework designed to protect the West. Despite these challenges, Poland’s government, often divided by partisanship, presented a united front, echoed by leaders across major European nations. Even President Trump, after an initially ambiguous statement, eventually aligned with other Western leaders in condemning the drone incident as unacceptable.
NATO forces successfully neutralized the threat, which proved less formidable than initially perceived on radar. Over twenty drones penetrated Polish airspace, but most were foam dummies that simply dropped when their fuel ran out. However, three Shahed-style armed drones, similar to those that terrorize Ukraine nightly, were shot down by Polish forces. While no fatalities were reported, a house in eastern Poland sustained damage from a missile fired by a NATO aircraft, not a Russian drone, according to an anonymous Polish official. A rabbit hutch was also struck by a dummy drone, but thankfully, the animals survived.
As has been customary, Russian officials denied and obscured the facts. Allies of the Kremlin in neighboring Belarus suggested the drones might have strayed due to electronic warfare, while the Russian Defense Ministry denied possessing drones capable of reaching Poland. Social media platforms were flooded with bots and Kremlin-backed accounts pushing a false narrative that Ukraine had staged the incident to draw Poland into the conflict.
Polish officials, however, remain convinced the drone launch was intentional. They indicated the drones were launched from Russian territory, near the Ukraine-Belarus border, following a consistent path over a forested region in northern Ukraine and southern Belarus, far from any legitimate military targets in Ukraine. These drones, though unarmed, were modified with enlarged or additional fuel tanks to complete the journey into Poland.
Pawel Zalevski, a senior Defense Ministry official, firmly stated, “We have no doubt that this was an intentional incursion and I would say an intentional attack.”
General Klisz’s night began like any other, receiving reports of a Russian attack on Ukraine involving over 400 drones and various missiles. Poland’s air defenses were on high alert, but initially, nothing suggested an unusual deviation. That changed around 11 p.m. when the Polish soldier at a mobile radar installation near the Belarus border spotted what General Klisz called “this freaking dot” moving towards Poland.
The general explained that several critical actions had to occur simultaneously. Fighter jets, including F-16s and F-35s, along with military helicopters, were scrambled, and ground-based air defenses, including advanced Patriot systems, were activated. Critically, Polish airspace had to be cleared to prevent any misidentification of civilian aircraft as hostile targets.
This operation contrasted sharply with the nightly responses in Ukraine, where hundreds of missiles and drones are immediately engaged with ground and air fire, often leading to wreckage raining down on populated areas. In Poland, a nation currently at peace, the response was more precise. Protocol demanded visual confirmation of hostile objects before opening fire. General Klisz emphasized the need to avoid using multi-million dollar equipment on non-threats like gliders or balloons, which smugglers sometimes use, and to prevent collateral damage.
Ultimately, General Klisz ordered the engagement of only a few drones. He noted that most were foam dummies designed to confuse Ukrainian air defenses, while the ones targeted closely resembled metal Shahed attack drones, which display distinct radar signatures. The targeted drones, according to a Polish official, appeared to be heading for the Rzeszow airport near the Ukrainian border, a heavily defended site crucial for delivering foreign armaments to the front. The official speculated that Russia intended to test these defenses. Notably, only the Patriot systems’ radars were utilized, not their more costly missiles, which could have caused significant unintended damage.
In the wake of the incident, NATO allies reaffirmed their solidarity, and the alliance initiated “Eastern Sentry,” a military operation designed to increase air patrols and deploy more ground-based interceptor systems. While initially suggesting the incursion might have been accidental, Mr. Trump later condemned Russia “even for being near that line” and, in discussions with President Nawrocki, hinted at the possibility of sending additional American troops to Poland.
Seasoned diplomat Mr. Przydacz characterized Mr. Trump’s shifting statements as “the poetry of negotiation,” framing it as part of the American president’s broader effort to end the war. “I’m pretty sure that the goal for President Trump is to stop the killing,” he stated.
The unified NATO response offered significant reassurance to Poles, who, according to Janusz Reiter, a former Polish ambassador, carry a “traditional trauma of being left alone,” a sentiment rooted in their abandonment by allies during the 1939 Nazi invasion. Reiter concluded that, for now, the Russian threat had not succeeded in fracturing Western unity, as Putin likely intended. However, he cautioned, “But I’m not naive. I know this could change.”