Tusk: Poland not at war, but Russian drones on our territory cross the line

Brussels – Russian drones flying over Polish skies last night “constitute an unprecedented violation of Polish airspace and carry the risk of an open conflict.” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk reported to Parliament (Sejm) today on what happened during the night, repeatedly emphasizing the unity of the response from the country’s various institutions, where the President of the Republic, the nationalist Eurosceptic Karol Nawrocki, represents the parliamentary opposition, with which dialogue is usually almost nonexistent.

Tusk explained that “yesterday, at 22:06, the military was first alerted about the start of a massive air strike by the Russian Federation against Ukraine. There would be nothing unusual in this,” he added, “were it not for the scale of the attack and the number of drones and missiles involved.” Two F-35s, two F-16s, and MI-24, MI-17, and Black Hawk helicopters were deployed to the area. Around 23:30, the first violation of the country’s airspace was recorded. The last one took place around 6.30, “which gives an idea of the scale of this operation. Nineteen specific incursions into our airspace were recorded and precisely located,” Tusk said, but the data is not yet final. 

The novelty, “in the worst sense of the word, is the direction from which the drones that violated Polish airspace came. For the first time during this war, they did not come from Ukraine due to mistakes. Still, a significant part of these drones flew into Poland directly from Belarus,” Tusk reported. At least three drones were shot down. There is no information that anyone was injured or killed as a result of the Russian action, “as far as we know at the moment.”

Tusk went on to explain that “the shooting down of those drones that directly threatened our security is, of course, a success of our armed forces and NATO, but it changes the political situation. Therefore, the premier announced, consultations with the allies have “taken the form of a formal request to invoke Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty.” A significant change in pace. 

Article 4 states: “The Parties will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened.”

The PM then thanked his partners for the solidarity expressed after the night of the attacks. However, “words of solidarity are necessary, but they are not enough. Today, we have to say it loud and clear to the entire Western world, to all our allies. Article 4 is only the introduction to a deeper cooperation for the security of our sky and our border, which is the NATO border. And from the political consultations between the capitals, we expect much more support.”

Regarding Poland, which is politically deeply divided, Tusk emphasised that “one of the political objectives (of Russia, ed.) is to influence the internal situation of the attacked or provoked country. The fact that today – and I hope also in the future – we were able to present an absolutely uniform political position on these issues is our great asset and minimises the risks of subversive activities and disinformation.”

The premier wanted to reassure his fellow citizens: “I want to emphasise strongly that today there is no reason to say that we are in a state of war. But there is no doubt that this provocation exceeds previous limits and is incomparably more dangerous from the point of view of Poland than all others, all previous ones.”

 However, Tusk emphasizes, “we already have something that goes beyond the limits of normal provocations here, in our skies. And perhaps today we must once again say very loudly and clearly: Poland today has a political enemy that does not hide its hostile intentions beyond our eastern border. We must focus our efforts, all our attention, all our capabilities on defending Poland from the real enemy, from the real threat.”

Tusk’s task now is “to totally mobilize the entire West, so that Poland will never again find itself in a situation where we seemed to have real alliances and then it turned out they were paper alliances.” This, he insisted, “is a common responsibility of all NATO, of all allies, of the entire European Union.”

In any case, “Poland will be with Ukraine, Poland will support Ukraine, because today, it is Ukraine that bears the main burden of resistance to Russia’s aggressive policy. Let us remember this. It is important for us; it is vital for our security.”