Poland says Russian military helicopter violated its airspace
A Russian military Mi-8 helicopter entered Polish airspace on September 23 at 11:08 a.m., the operational command of the Polish army said.
The helicopter, flying from the Kaliningrad region, crossed about 300 meters (984 feet) into Polish airspace and remained there for 42 seconds, the Polish military said.
Poland scrambled fighter jets and put ground forces and equipment on alert. “The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is once again testing the readiness of our air defense,” the command said.
Russia has not yet commented on the incident.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on September 17 that Russia is planning “hybrid” strikes using missiles and drones against countries that support Ukraine. He claimed that “there is a real risk that drones or other types of missiles may fly into the territory of one or more NATO countries on the eastern flank, even cause destruction.”
Over the past several months, drones have repeatedly entered the airspace of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. In addition, overnight on September 13, Russian forces attacked a gas station near the Yahodyn border crossing on the Polish-Ukrainian border and a passenger train on the Kyiv-Warsaw railway line with drones.
At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.
If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at reports@meduza.io.
To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.