An uncrewed Russian drone crashed and exploded in a field in eastern Poland and was discovered the morning after air defenses had been activated the previous night. No injuries occurred. Poland's defense minister called the incident a provocation against NATO and accused the Kremlin of ten airspace violations since 2022. Officials said the drone likely had a Chinese engine and was flying very low to avoid detection. Air defenses were put on alert at 10 p.m. during a wave of Russian drones and missiles, including patrols by a Mi-24 helicopter, but forces stood down by midnight after detecting no abnormal threats.
Warsaw said on Wednesday that a Russian drone crashed and exploded in a field in eastern Poland, and that the uncrewed system was only discovered the morning after air defenses were activated. 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.
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."
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