The Prague Post - Poland warns of escalation, holds NATO talks after Russian drone intrusion

Poland's airspace was violated 19 times, Tusk said, and at least three drones were shot down after Warsaw and its allies scrambled jets -- but authorities said nobody was harmed.

Footage posted by local media showed firefighters and police in the village of Wyryki, eastern Poland, inspecting a house with its roof ripped open and debris littered nearby following an impact from a drone.

Russian drones and missiles have entered the airspace of NATO members including Poland several times during Russia's three-and-a-half-year war, but a NATO country has never attempted to shoot them down.

Tusk said he had invoked NATO's Article 4 under which any member can call urgent talks when it feels its "territorial integrity, political independence or security" are at risk -- only the eighth time the measure has ever been used.

"This situation... brings us closer than ever to open conflict since World War II," Tusk told parliament, but added there was "no reason today to claim that we are in a state of war".

The incident came as Russia unleashed a barrage of strikes across Ukraine including in the western city of Lviv, less than two hours' drive from the Polish border.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the airspace violation was a "dangerous precedent" for Europe and "no accident", and urged a strong response from Kyiv's Western allies.

Poland's interior ministry said a house and a car had been damaged overnight, adding that seven drones and debris from an unknown projectile had so far been located.

The North Atlantic Council, NATO's main political decision-making body, changed the format of its weekly meeting on Wednesday to hold it under Article 4 of the treaty.

A cornerstone of the Western military alliance is the principle that an attack on any member is deemed an attack on all.

NATO chief Mark Rutte hailed his organisation's "very successful reaction", telling journalists the alliance's air defences had done their job.

He slammed Moscow's "reckless behaviour" and called on Putin to halt a war that he said was now being waged on civilians.

Russia's defence ministry denied targeting Poland, saying they were ready to talk with Warsaw.

"There were no intentions to engage any targets on the territory of Poland," the ministry said in a statement in English, without confirming or denying that its drones had entered Polish airspace.

- 'Act of aggression' -

Russia's top diplomat in Poland, Andrei Ordash, told RIA Novosti earlier on Wednesday he had been summoned to the foreign ministry for a meeting.

The operational command of Poland's military said the airspace violations were "unprecedented" and called it "an act of aggression".

As European capitals rushed out condemnations, several portrayed the incident as Russia testing Ukraine's allies.

"What he wants to do is to test us," said EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas. "And every time he's bolder, because he's able to be bolder because our response hasn't been strong enough."

A senior NATO diplomat, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the response from NATO would probably be "shifting a few extra assets" to Poland or elsewhere in the east, and pushing a "tough line" from the NATO secretary general.

Polish authorities had temporarily closed the airspace over part of the country following the incident.

The intrusion came just days before the Zapad-2025 military drills, due on September 12-16 in Belarus and Russia, both Polish neighbours.

Tusk said on Wednesday "critical days related to the Belarusian-Russian maneuvers are ahead of us". On Tuesday, Warsaw announced closing its few remaining border crossings with Belarus over the drills.

Poland, a major supporter of Ukraine, hosts over a million Ukrainian refugees and is a key transit point for Western humanitarian and military aid to the war-torn country.

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C.Sramek--TPP