Poland requests air defence systems from allies following Russian incursion into its airspace

Following the massive breach of its airspace by Russian drones on Wednesday, Poland has requested the delivery of additional air defence systems from its allies, as well as an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

Poland, which invoked Article 4 of the NATO convention within hours of the attack, triggering a meeting of the alliance’s most senior decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council, is currently consulting with its fellow NATO members on the supply of additional air defense systems, according to sources cited by Bloomberg.

“We need Patriots because drones aren’t the only form of the Russian threat to our airspace. We also need an anti-drone wall,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said at a press conference in Warsaw.

Writing on X on Wednesday evening, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk signalled that Warsaw’s request for military aid from its European partners had already borne fruit, saying that as well as “expressions of solidarity” he had received “proposals for concrete support for the air defence of our country” from the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Ukraine and the UK.

So far, the Netherlands has publicly agreed to supply Poland with two Patriot systems by the end of the year, while Czechia has announced its readiness to transfer three Mi-171Sh helicopters. The UK may also return some of the six Typhoon fighter jets that until six weeks ago it had deployed in Poland, as part of NATO’s air-policing mission, Bloomberg reported.

The Polish Foreign Ministry confirmed on Thursday that a request it had lodged with the South Korean mission to the United Nations, which currently chairs the UN Security Council, to convene an emergency meeting to discuss the extraordinary Russian violation of its airspace had been accepted.