Exclusive: Poland was shooting a cannon at a fly, General Gromadziński tells Euronews

Poland came closer to open conflict than at any time since World War II as Russian drones repeatedly violated its airspace overnight, forcing the deployment of advanced NATO fighter jets in what a top Polish general called "shooting a cannon at a fly."

The coordinated assault exposed critical gaps in NATO's lower-altitude air defence systems, forcing the alliance to use expensive advanced aircraft against relatively cheap unmanned targets.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed at least 19 Shahed-type drone incursions near the Polish border, the first massive test of Polish air defences since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in early 2022.

The incident combined physical attacks with sophisticated disinformation campaigns, which Lieutenant General Jarosław Gromadziński said involved high-intensity spreading of false claims about drone locations near Warsaw.

'Combined hybrid action'

"I was up all night. From 2 am there was a high intensity of disinformation from various trolls spreading information that the drones had allegedly already reached Ciechanów (97 km from Warsaw)," Gromadziński told Euronews.

"It was clearly a combined hybrid action: the Shahed strike and the media activity," the former Eurocorps commander said.

In his view, this proves that the action was clearly provocative: the Russians were testing Polish reaction capabilities and response times.

"This was extinguished in the morning, which means that our services started to counteract it. It was a big test of our capabilities," he added.

On the whole, the general was positive about the Polish response, especially the courageous decision to close the airspace to civilian traffic and use NATO forces.

"I support wholeheartedly the decision to allow military aircraft in, which eliminated the threat," Gromadziński emphasised.

"The most important thing is that these were not just our planes, but allied planes based in Poland as part of their duty station. This showed the strength of NATO."

This, according to the general, is not what matters most at the moment.

"For me, it's not important that we destroyed those drones, that's what we should do unquestionably. Surely. But the most important thing now is what Polish diplomacy and the allies will do," Gromadziński said.

Without a firm response from the whole NATO alliance, he added, "this will embolden the Russian side and we will have drones more often and deeper in our country."

'Make a statement with one voice'

While US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker has asserted a readiness to defend "every inch of NATO territory", the White House, US State Department and Pentagon are silent on the violations.

Former Polish Ambassador to the US Marek Magierowski, in an opinion piece for Wirtualna Polska outlet, called it "ear-irritating silence".

General Gromadziński expects a coordinated response. "The allies must agree on everything behind the scenes and then make a statement with one voice," he said.

"This is where the strength of our diplomacy lies - will we convince everyone, especially the US, to give a radical response," he asked.

The issue is not so much just about military action, but "increasing sanctions, blockades, maybe closing the airspace over Kaliningrad or consequences for countries cooperating with Russia. This is where the whole package of actions is made," said Gromadziński.

'Shooting a cannon at a fly'

A critical assessment of the use of state-of-the-art fighter jets for drone warfare was expressed by the former commander of US ground forces in Europe, General Ben Hodges.

"NATO/USEUCOM needs to conduct long-needed air defence exercises across the theatre of operations. Using F-35s and F-22s against drones shows that we are not yet prepared," he wrote in a post on X.

General Gromadzinski entirely agreed. "This is shooting a cannon at a fly. We should build a multi-layered air defence system that at the lowest altitude takes into account both kinetic and jamming systems," he explained.

Knowing the characteristics of drones is essential, and therefore, analysing speed, flight trajectory, range and manoeuvrability is crucial for effective defence. "Drones cannot only be drowned out, kinetic elimination is also essential," Gromadziński explained.

A gap in defence

The problem with defending against drones became apparent two years ago, when they began being used en masse in Ukraine.

"All countries discovered that they had a gap in this lower layer of defence. That's why today aircraft were used, although we had no choice," admits Gen Gromadzinski.

"Ideally, we should have reconnaissance elements at all levels deployed along the border. The high missile ceiling is what we plan, the medium one we have, but we have lost the lowest one," the expert said.

In his opinion, systems integration will be key.

"This higher missile ceiling is more complicated and we planned it right away in the construction of our multilayer system, but we lost this lowest level," Gromadziński explained.

"Today, an anti-drone warfare reconnaissance system has to be built on this lowest level on short notice. It must, however, be integrated with the main system, so that we can identify the target and the so-called targeting and indicate which target we are destroying with which means."

General Gromadziński urged that in this tension and fear, experts, not internet influencers, should be trusted. He also exposed another issue in the country's defence structure: information chaos during a crisis.

"We don't have something like STRATCOM, which is strategic communication at the government level. Today, a local police station was giving information about a drone being found. There should not be such things," he said.

"There should be centralised information to avoid fake news. The citizen should be aware that they are only receiving information from this source. This is an information war that Russia is really good at," Gromadziński concluded.