Poland has accused a Russian military helicopter of briefly violating its airspace, prompting the NATO member to scramble fighter jets while ground forces remained on alert.
The Polish Army Operational Command said the Mi-8 helicopter crossed from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad at 11:08 local time (09:08 GMT) on Wednesday, penetrating Polish airspace to a depth of approximately 300 metres north of Braniewo. The incursion lasted 42 seconds. The aircraft was tracked by radar throughout.
In a statement, the command said "the nature of the incident indicates that Russia is once again testing the readiness of our air defence." Moscow did not immediately comment.
Poland's air defence units are operating around the clock to "ensure the safety of Polish airspace," the command added.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions between Russia and NATO's eastern flank. Last week, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk suggested Russia was planning drone and missile strikes against Poland and other countries in the region.
"In recent weeks, the Russian hybrid threat against Europeans has intensified," Tusk said. "The intent is to intimidate us and break our effort to support Ukraine. The result will be the exact opposite. We are not intimidated because we know that our security today and tomorrow is at stake in Ukraine."
A number of Russian drones and one unarmed Russian missile have previously landed on Polish territory since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Poland and other European NATO members have recently warned that Russia may be preparing attacks to test their commitment to supporting Ukraine. Moscow denies this. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that Russia does not plan to attack NATO states.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov offered a contrasting tone this month, warning: "If Europe attacks Russia, it will be a completely different war [from that in Ukraine], and it will be very short."
Russia currently controls approximately 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimea peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.
French President Emmanuel Macron said his country had also been targeted by Russian hybrid attacks in recent weeks, vowing the actions would not be left "without a response." He said he had already ordered a plan to protect France's critical infrastructure and defence industry sites.
Hybrid attacks typically refer to non-military methods such as cyberattacks, sabotage, and misinformation campaigns designed to destabilise an adversary, often carried out through proxies. Russia consistently denies involvement in such operations.
Several suspicious fires and explosions have recently occurred at defence facilities across European NATO members, from Italy to Bulgaria to Estonia. Some of the affected countries have blamed Russia. Earlier this month, Germany said Russia was responsible for a drone attack on Leipzig airport in August — an accusation Moscow dismissed as "absurd."
Lithuania's prime minister also said this week that his country had drawn up evacuation plans in response to threats from Russia, but stressed they would "not surrender" if attacked.
In a separate development in Ukraine, a Russian drone struck a passenger train near the Polish border on September 13, shortly after former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and senior European security officials had travelled along the same rail line. Ukraine said the drone's target "could have been the diplomatic train," while the Russian military stated only that it had struck "railway infrastructure."
