Poland calls for UN Security Council meeting after Russian drone incursion

An emergency United Nations Security Council meeting will be held on Thursday on Poland's request, after this week's unprecedented Russian drone incursion over the central European country.

On Wednesday, Poland's armed forces and Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Warsaw downed at least three Russian drones in an operation described as "unprecedented."

Poland recorded at least 19 drone incursions, some flying deep enough inside the country for four airports to temporarily suspend flights. Fragments of 16 downed objects have been recovered.

The incident was the first time that Russian drones a NATO member country actively engaged with Russian drones since the start of Moscow's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Poland, which also triggered Article 4 of the NATO treaty on Wednesday, asked that the United Nations Security Council be convened to "draw the attention of the entire world to this unprecedented attack by Russian drones," Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski told domestic radio.

The UN Security Council has the authority to investigate conflicts that threaten international security and propose countermeasures, such as economic sanctions.

An emergency meeting is typically convened in response to a sudden and severe international crisis.

Sikorski accused Russia of deliberately targeting Polish airspace in the incursion, which has prompted a wave of condemnation and fear among NATO allies.

"The assessment of Polish and NATO air forces is that they did not veer off course, but were deliberately targeted," Sikorski said in a video statement.

'Escalating, not ending'

European leaders said they believed the incursion, which took place as the Kremlin launched a wave of strikes on Ukraine, amounted to the international expansion of Russia's war — a deeply held fear of Ukraine's European allies.

“Russia’s war is escalating, not ending,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told reporters in Brussels. “What (Russian President Vladimir) Putin wants to do is to test us. What happened in Poland is a game changer.”

Poland's airspace has been violated numerous times since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, but never to this extent. The central European country said, in this instance, a significant portion of the drones came from neighbouring Belarus.

Belarusian Major General Pavel Muraveiko, the chief of the country's general staff and first deputy defence minister, appeared to try to put some distance between his country and the incursion.

In an online statement, he said that Belarusian air defence forces tracked “drones that lost their course” after they were jammed, adding that Minsk warned their Polish and Lithuanian counterparts about “unidentified aircraft” approaching their territory.

Russia's Defence Ministry said its overnight strikes targeted western Ukraine's military industry, and that strikes on Polish territory were unplanned.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov addressed Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s remarks on Russian drones reportedly shot down over Polish territory overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, stating that Poland has yet to provide any evidence.

"Regarding the rhetoric of the statements we're hearing from Warsaw, well, there's nothing new there. This rhetoric has been characteristic of almost all European capitals lately. We see its continuation," Peskov told Russian media.

Nevertheless, leaders in the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia expressed deep concern over what they said was clear evidence of the expansion of Moscow's aggression.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the drone incursion was an “extremely dangerous precedent for Europe” and called for Russia to “feel the consequences”.

“Moscow always tests the limits of what is possible and, if it does not encounter a strong response, remains at a new level of escalation," he said.

US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly pushed to broker a ceasefire deal between Ukraine and Russia, only said in a short post on social media, "What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go.”