Poland Requests UN Security Council Meeting Following Russian Drone Incursion 

The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting over the “unprecedented” Russian violations of Polish airspace seen Wednesday, after Poland called for an international response to the incident, the Financial Times reported Thursday. 

The meeting is expected to take place on Friday, according to a European diplomat, but the UN has yet to confirm it.  

About 19 Russian drones, several of which were launched from Russian ally Belarus, violated Poland’s airspace early Wednesday while Russia was attacking targets in Ukraine. Polish aircraft and NATO fighter jets shot down some of the drones in a rare clash between Moscow and militaries from the US-led Western alliance, according to the Washington Post.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk described the incursion as a “large-scale provocation” by Moscow that had brought Poland – a member of the UN, the European Union, and NATO – “the closest we have been to open conflict since World War II.” 

Poland requested its NATO allies provide extra air defense capabilities, while the alliance is mulling its response to Russia’s incursion following Poland’s invocation of Article 4, the mechanism for coordinating a collective response by NATO’s 32 members. 

Poland had previously triggered Article 4 in 2014 in response to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and later in 2022, along with eight other allies, following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Associated Press added. 

Following the incursion, both Poland and Latvia restricted civilian flights along their eastern borders, Politico noted. Poland borders Belarus and Ukraine, and said the restrictions will remain in place until Dec. 9. Latvia, which borders Russia and Belarus, imposed restrictions until Sept. 18, but they could be extended. An armed Russian military drone had crashed in Latvia in September 2024, possibly en route to Ukraine. 

European leaders condemned the incursion, accusing Russia of expanding the conflict rather than pursuing a truce with Ukraine, Euronews wrote. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told reporters that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “testing” the EU and that recent events in Poland are “a game changer.”  

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was prepared to assist in fencing off Russian drone incursions. France, the UK, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands also made proposals for assistance in air defense, according to Tusk.