While Poles slept, the scenario that European politicians have been avoiding invoking since 2022 played out for a few hours in the dark skies: NATO weapons shooting down Russian drones. The sound of fighter jets and explosions woke residents in Lublin, the quiet university town on the right bank of the Vistula River in eastern Poland. Authorities sent an emergency alert to phones across the country asking residents to report any damage caused by downed drones."Do not approach them." Suddenly, some routines of the war in neighboring Ukraine that resonate after more than three years of Russian invasion threatened to take shape in the streets. Poland had to deploy its own air defenses to shoot down drones in its airspace in response to a Russian attack against Ukraine that this time has splashed Polish borders, causing an unprecedented incursion since the war began. During the night, 19 drones invaded Polish airspace. At least four were shot down. Moscow is placing Poles before the vertigo of war that has turned Ukraine into a gray zone: without airports, with borders in question, the routine fear of looking at the sky, and life conditioned by a Slavic giant that is reaching ever further away. The shock came two days before a date that Poles and Baltics have been anxiously awaiting for months: the start of the major military maneuvers Zapad 2025 in neighboring Belarus, to be carried out by Russian and Belarusian troops. As a result of the presence of Vladimir Putin's troops near its border, Poland has sealed off the entire line to prevent incursions like this. On this cold EU border, they haven't forgotten that it was precisely these maneuvers that masked Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. September is a cursed month in Poland. The German invasion of Poland occurred on September 1, 1939, marking the beginning of the Second World War. Throughout Poland, it was a shock to wake up, but in the east of the country, it was a real scare. In the village of Wyryki, where a Russian drone crashed and caused damage but no injuries, people heard thunderous sounds all night: it was NATO deploying on a mission rehearsed hundreds of times that suddenly became real. This is the first time Poland has become so involved in the war raging against its neighbor. Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned in parliament that the possibility of a military conflict"is greater than at any time since World War II." "19 airspace violations were recorded and accurately located, but this data is not definitive, as the Chief of the General Staff only wants to convey confirmed information to the public. What is new, in the worst sense of the word, is the direction from which the drones violating Polish airspace arrived: not from Ukraine, but as a result of drone errors and confusion, or small-scale Russian provocations. For the first time, drones arrived in Poland from Belarus," the Prime Minister stressed."There was an unprecedented violation of Polish airspace by drones. This act of aggression posed a real threat to the security of our citizens," the military's operational command stressed. Polish.In response to the airstrike,Poland invoked NATO's Article 4, which states"that the Allies shall consult each other whenever, in the opinion of any of them, their territorial integrity, political independence or security is threatened." It does not automatically imply military action (as Article 5 does), but rather urgent consultations. The violation of Poland's airspace by Russian drones was"absolutely reckless," said Mark Rutte, the alliance's secretary general, who avoided describing what happened as an attack but rather as an intentional incursion.

"All this is creating concerns and doubts about what NATO is going to do, whether it is going to defend us or not," explained Kasia, a resident of Lublin, who can't help but remember"our history of being left aside when a bigger neighbor attacks us." "We try not to be afraid of Russia, but we do try to keep our eyes open," she added, sitting on a bench next to the station.

From Belarus, the Ministry of Defense claimed to have warned Poland about drones that violated its airspace on Tuesday night. The country's Chief of Staff, Pavel Muraveyko, believes the drones were"diverted" due to the action of electronic warfare systems.

The last of the drones was destroyed at 6:45 a.m. The operation lasted all night. Polish and allied teams detected several objects on radar, and considering those that could pose a threat, the Operational Commander of the Polish Armed Forces decided to neutralize them."Some of the drones that invaded our airspace were shot down. Efforts are underway to locate the possible impact sites of these objects," explained the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces. The Polish government believes that with such a massive violation of Polish airspace, it is difficult to consider it a coincidence or an incident.

The Kremlin declined to comment on the incident. The Russian Defense Ministry did admit to attacking Ukrainian regions bordering Poland but denied having plotted targets on Polish soil and noted that the drones used have a range of no more than 700 kilometers. Some military analysts claim that Russia is testing NATO's ability to respond to a coordinated drone attack against a member state.

The fact that it was a swarm of drones following the same direction and the vast area covered could mean that the flight was intended as a deliberate provocation. Poland has been on alert for objects entering its airspace since a stray Ukrainian missile hit a village in southern Poland in 2022, killing two people. However, to date, there have been no cases in which Polish or allied defense systems have destroyed drones. In addition to ground-based systems, Saab and Awacs early warning aircraft were activated for the air operations. It was a joint NATO operation. Two F-35s, two F-16s, (...), a MiG-17, and a Black Hawk were sent to the area. The drones were mainly shot down by Dutch F-35s, which have been stationed there since September 1. Polish helicopters were also operating in the area, and the German Army's Patriot system, stationed near Rzeszów, was put on alert.