Poland said it shot down multiple Russian drones that violated its airspace early Wednesday morning.
Poland’s Operational Command of the Armed Forces said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that there had been an “unprecedented violation of Polish airspace by drone-type objects” as a result of a Russian attack on Ukraine.
“It’s an act of aggression that has created a real threat to the safety of our citizens,” the armed forces said in the post.
Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, the country’s defense minister, said in a Wednesday X post that Polish and allied radar systems had tracked several objects that violated the airspace. He said an operation was underway to neutralize objects that had violated the Russia-Poland border.
The defense minister said that he was in constant contact with NATO.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also said on X that he had received a report from the Polish armed forces about the downing of drones and that the operation was ongoing.
As a result of the attack, Chopin Airport in Warsaw temporarily stopped flight operations.
“Due to the actions of state services and the military to ensure safety, the airspace over part of the country, including over Chopin Airport, has been temporarily closed,” the airport said in a Wednesday statement on X.
An airport spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement early on September 10 that the airspace over the airport had reopened and flight operations had resumed.
However, disruptions and delays were to be expected throughout Wednesday, the spokesperson added.
The armed forces said in its Facebook post that the most affected areas were the Podlaskie, Masovian, and Lublin provinces, the closest Polish provinces to the Russian border.
The incident comes shortly after a Russian drone crashed and exploded in a field in eastern Poland in August. Kosiniak-Kamysz said the incident was an instance of Russia provoking NATO countries.
Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, said in a statement following the August drone explosion that Poland would “protect against the perpetrator.”
“Another violation of our airspace from the East confirms that Poland’s most important mission vis-à-vis NATO is to defend our own territory,” Sikorski said in the statement.
Representatives for Poland’s Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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