Polish minister denounces Russia's 'tactically stupid' drone incursion

Poland's foreign minister has accused Russia of a "tactically stupid and counterproductive" escalation of the war in Ukraine, saying its drone incursion into Poland last month appeared to be deliberate.

- Dan Sabbagh Jennifer Rankin

Radosław Sikorski, on a visit to London, said all Vladimir Putin had achieved with the incursion was a consolidation of western opinion against him. He also dismissed Russian claims that supplying US Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine would be unnecessarily provocative.

The Russian operation involved 21 drones in a seven-hour incursion in early September, forcing the closure of airports in the east and centre of the country. “We think the preponderance of evidence suggests that it was deliberate,” Sikorski said.

The drones, understood to be Russian-made Gerbera decoys, were launched from Russia, in an incursion that was “seemingly coordinated with Belarus”, he said. It was, he added, partly a test of Poland and Nato's air defences.

Sikorski was speaking before a meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels, where the defence of Europe's eastern flank and supply of drones to Ukraine were due to be discussed. After the Polish incursion, Nato allies agreed to supply further jets for air policing as part of an operation called Eastern Sentry.

According to a leaked defence paper to be published today, the European Commission will also call for European drone defences to be “fully functional by the end of 2027” as part of a project previously known as the “drone wall”.