Russia Flew Drones Over Poland 'To Test Nato'

Poland's foreign minister has said the Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace was an attempt to test Nato's reactions by incremental escalations without prompting a full-scale response, as Romania became the second Nato country to report an incursion in a matter of days.

- Shaun Walker

Radosław Sikorski confirmed that while the drones that entered Poland last week were capable of carrying ammunition, they were not loaded with explosives. "Interestingly, they were all duds, which suggests to me that Russia tried to test us without starting a war," Sikorski told the Guardian in Kyiv.

He dismissed suggestions Polish air defences had been unprepared for the incursion, given that some of the drones had travelled hundreds of miles into Polish territory and that accounts suggested only three or four out of about 19 were shot down.

"The drones didn't reach their targets and there was minor damage to property, nobody was hurt. If it happened in Ukraine, by Ukrainian definitions, that would be regarded as a 100% success," he said.

Nato said on Friday that it would deploy more jets to the alliance's eastern flank to protect against future drone attacks. On Saturday, Polish and allied aircraft were again deployed due to a renewed threat of drone strikes in western Ukraine.

The airport in the eastern Polish city of Lublin was closed and people in border areas received SMS alerts to exercise caution. However, there was no reported incursion this time.

On Saturday, Romania became the latest Nato member state to report a Russian drone incursion in its airspace, scrambling two F-16 fighter jets to monitor the situation. Its defence ministry said it strongly condemned Russia's actions, which were described by the EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, as unacceptable.