NATO airspace breached by Russian drones, Poland calls for UN meeting
Poland led a group of 48 countries—including Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, Japan and the United States—along with the EU Delegation, in a joint press statement during an emergency session of the UN Security Council.
The statement addresses the most significant violation of Polish airspace by Russian drones since the war in Ukraine began.
In a joint declaration made public by Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Bosacki, the signatories accused Moscow of violating international law and the UN Charter.
According to Mr. Bosacki, Poland requested the meeting "because Russia’s reckless actions are not only a violation of international law but also a destabilizing escalation that brings the entire region closer to conflict than it has been in years."
"We are taking this opportunity to reiterate our call on the Russian Federation to cease, without delay, its war of aggression against Ukraine, to refrain from any further provocations, and to respect its obligations under the UN Charter," the Polish Foreign Minister said. "Escalation cannot and will not pave the way for peace. Only by upholding the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the peaceful resolution of disputes can we create the conditions for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, in Europe, and beyond."
The declaration also detailed that during an attack on Ukrainian territory on the night of September 9, the Russian Federation conducted nineteen drone incursions into Polish airspace.
"The drones, which posed a real threat to the civilian population, infrastructure, and aviation safety, were preemptively neutralised," Mr. Bosacki highlighted. "For the first time since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the territorial integrity of Poland—and, simultaneously, NATO and EU airspace—was violated on such an unprecedented and large scale. This serious incident followed various violations of regional airspaces by Russia in the past. Therefore, Poland, for the first time, decided to request an emergency UN Security Council meeting, acting in the spirit of preventive diplomacy."
According to the head of Polish diplomacy, such a provocation is a profound disrespect for the international community's efforts to end the war and restore peace and stability under international law.
Polish authorities had previously reported that 19 drones entered the country's airspace on the night of September 9-10 during a large-scale missile and drone attack on Ukraine. Some were shot down, and the debris was later recovered in the central and eastern parts of the country.
The event marked the first time a NATO member state was forced to use its defensive arsenal to shoot down Russian drones.
Following Warsaw's request to invoke Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty, NATO launched Operation "Eastern Sentinel," a mission of deterrence and defence of allied territory from the Far North to the Black Sea.
"There were no targets on Polish territory," Russia's UN Ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, told the Security Council. "The maximum range of the drones used in this attack did not exceed 700 kilometres, which makes it physically impossible for them to reach Polish territory," he claimed.
Mr. Nebenzia also rejected what he called the "hysterical outburst" by EU countries, claiming they had succumbed to attempts by Ukraine to expand the conflict beyond its borders, as reported by EFE.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
