Russian Mi-8 violates Polish airspace; jets scramble — SkimNews
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- Poland's Army Operational Command said a Russian Mi-8 helicopter crossed from Kaliningrad on Wednesday morning at 11:08 local time, penetrating 300 metres into Polish airspace for 42 seconds north of Braniewo before being tracked by radar.
- NATO fighter jets were scrambled and Polish ground forces placed on alert; the military statement read that "the nature of the incident indicates that Russia is once again testing the readiness of our air defence," and Moscow did not comment immediately.
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this month that "if Europe attacks Russia, it will be a completely different war [from that in Ukraine], and it will be very short," even as Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly denied plans to attack NATO states.
- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said last week Russia was planning drone and missile strikes against Poland and other NATO eastern-flank countries, calling the intensified hybrid threat an attempt to "intimidate us and break our effort to support Ukraine."
- French President Emmanuel Macron said France had been targeted by Russian hybrid attacks in recent weeks, vowing they would not be left "without a response" and ordering a plan to protect critical infrastructure and defence industry sites.
- Germany blamed Russia for August's drone attack at Leipzig airport — an accusation Moscow called "absurd" — while Lithuania's prime minister told the BBC his country had already drawn up evacuation plans against Russian threats but would "not surrender" if attacked.
- Poland has recorded multiple Russian drones and one unarmed Russian missile landing on its territory since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with suspicious fires and blasts recently hitting defence facilities from Italy to Bulgaria to Estonia.
Why it matters: A 42-second, 300-metre incursion is technically trivial but politically calibrated: Poland's military itself frames it as a deliberate test of NATO air defence readiness, and it lands alongside Tusk's claim that Russia is actively planning strikes on the eastern flank. The incursion tightens the credibility test for NATO's Article 5 posture at a moment when France, Germany, and Lithuania are simultaneously reporting Russian hybrid pressure.
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