Drone shot down over Warsaw amid heightened tensions over airspace violations

Poland’s State Protection Service has intercepted a drone flying over government buildings in Warsaw, including the Belweder Palace, a presidential residence, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced on Monday evening.

Two citizens of neighbouring Belarus were detained in connection with the incident, Tusk said without disclosing any further details, adding only that the police were investigating the matter.

The incident comes at a time of high alert for the Polish military following the unprecedented incursion of approximately 20 Russian drones into its airspace last week, most of which were shot down by Polish air defences.

Following the incident, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced the launch of Operation Eastern Sentry, to bolster the defence of the alliance’s eastern border. On Tuesday, Polish President Karol Nawrocki signed a decree authorising the deployment of additional NATO troops in the country.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, several Russian drones have entered its neighbours’ airspace, prompting air defence alerts. In 2022, NATO held an emergency meeting after a stray Ukrainian missile struck a Polish village near the border, killing two civilians.

Russia and Ukraine continued to launch airstrikes against one another overnight, with one person being killed and at least 13 others injured in Russian shelling of the city of Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia Governor Ivan Fedorov said on Tuesday. According to the regional authorities, the city was attacked using a combination of glide bombs and missiles, causing large fires to break out.

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Tuesday that its air defences had intercepted some 87 Ukrainian drones overnight, adding there had been no casualties.