Poland shot down a drone in its airspace on Wednesday with the support of military aircraft from its NATO allies. This is the first time a member of the Western military alliance is known to have fired during Russia's war in Ukraine.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told parliament that this was "the closest open conflict we have faced since World War II," although he also said he had "no reason to believe we are on the brink of war."

Moscow denied responsibility for the incident. European leaders, who have recently been trying to persuade US President Donald Trump to join them in tightening sanctions on Russia and increasing support for Kyiv, said it justified a collective response. There was no immediate response from Washington.

Poland said 19 objects had entered its airspace during Russia's major airstrikes in Ukraine, and that it had shot down those that posed a threat. Tusk called the incident a "large-scale provocation" and said he had activated Article Four of the NATO treaty, which allows alliance members to demand consultations with their allies.

A NATO spokesman said that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte had been in contact with the Polish leadership and that the alliance was in close consultation with Poland. A source said NATO did not consider the incident an attack, but rather a deliberate one. Polish F-16 fighter jets, Dutch F-35s, Italian AWACS surveillance aircraft, and a joint NATO-operated aerial refueling aircraft were involved in the overnight operation, according to the source.

Russia's top diplomat in Poland, quoted by the state news agency RIA, called the attack allegations "baseless" and said Poland had not provided any evidence that the downed drones were Russian.

Tusk said some of the drones entered Polish airspace directly from Russia's ally, Belarus, rather than from Ukrainian airspace. During the incident, the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces urged citizens to stay home, with three eastern regions at particular risk.

"This is an act of aggression that poses a real threat to the safety of our citizens," he said. Several Polish airports were temporarily closed, including one that had been used as a key access point for Western officials and supplies traveling to Ukraine by land.

Countries bordering Ukraine have reported occasional Russian missiles or drones entering their airspace in the past during the war, but not on such a large scale, and they are not known to have shot down any drones. Two people were killed in Poland in 2022 by a Ukrainian air defense missile that missed. Reuters footage shows a black dot on a brown field in southeastern Poland where the drone crashed. (alg)

Source: Reuters