Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced Tuesday night that numerous Russian drones breached Polish airspace and any drones considered an immediate threat were shot down. This event marks the first instance of a NATO member firing weapons during the Ukraine conflict.
Addressing the Polish parliament on Wednesday, Tusk stated that these overnight incidents made the possibility of a major conflict “closer than at any time since World War II.”
“There is no reason to claim that we are in a state of war… but the situation is significantly more dangerous than all previous ones,” Tusk asserted.
Tusk elaborated that 19 drones violated Polish airspace amid ongoing Russian airstrikes against neighboring Ukraine.
In response to Poland’s claims, Russian Charge d’Affaires Andrei Ordash reported being summoned by the Polish Foreign Ministry and stated that Warsaw provided no proof of the drones’ Russian origin.
The Russian Ministry of Defense also stated in a Wednesday announcement that “no targets planned for destruction on Polish territory” existed.
“The maximum flight range of the Russian UAVs used in the strike, which allegedly crossed the border with Poland, does not exceed 700 km. Nevertheless, we are ready to hold consultations with the Polish Ministry of Defense on this topic,” the Ministry’s statement read.
TIME has contacted Russia’s Ministry of Defense for further comment.
Tusk mentioned requesting NATO to initiate consultations under Article 4 of the alliance’s treaty. Article 4 allows NATO members to raise concerns with other members if they believe their territorial integrity, political independence, or security is threatened.
“Last night, numerous drones from Russia violated Polish airspace,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said at a Wednesday briefing, adding that air defense systems successfully “ensured the defense of NATO territory.”
Rutte indicated that several nations, including Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands, contributed military resources alongside Polish F-16 jets to the operational response.
Rutte conveyed NATO and its allies’ solidarity with Poland and condemned Russia.
“A full assessment of the incident is ongoing. What is clear is that the violation last night is not an isolated incident,” he said. “Allies are resolved to defend every inch of allied territory… This only reinforces the importance of NATO and the path to which allies agreed at our summit in the Hague earlier this year. We need to invest more in our defense, ramp up defense production so that we have what we need to deter and defend.”
Rutte referenced Russia’s attacks on Ukraine since its invasion, stating: “Russia is waging a dangerous war of aggression against Ukraine that continuously targets civilians and civilian infrastructure.”
Numerous Ukrainian allies and European leaders have condemned the drone incursion into Poland. E.U. High Representative Josep Borrell described it as “the most serious European airspace violation by Russia since the war began.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Ukrainian forces were informing Poland about the movements of Russian drones.
“In total, at least several dozen Russian drones were moving along the border of Ukraine and Belarus and across western regions of Ukraine, approaching targets on Ukrainian territory and, apparently, on Polish territory,” he said, adding that Ukraine is prepared to enhance its collaboration with allies in information sharing and aerial defense.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak deemed the incident in Poland “egregious and barbaric.”
“With our partners—and through our leadership from the Coalition of the Willing—we will continue to ramp up the pressure on Putin until there is a just and lasting peace,” he vowed.
During a conference in Paris last week, 26 nations pledged to deploy troops in Ukraine as a “reassurance force” after the conflict with Russia concludes.
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