Russian Ministry of Defense denies Polish drone charges

Recently, Poland and Russia have had fierce controversy over the "drone entry into Polish airspace".

Poland accused several Russian drones of invading their airspace, and the Russian Ministry of Defense clearly denied this statement. Ukraine, Belarus, NATO, the EU and other parties later spoke out one after another, which aroused the international community's attention to the regional security situation.

The Polish government (Warsaw is the capital of Poland, and here refers to the official Polish here) first disclosed the relevant situation, saying that several drones entered their own airspace, and some of them were successfully shot down by the military later.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk further explained that the country's military monitored 19 independent airspace violations at night, which he characterized as Russia's "provocative behavior."

Tusk also added that the military shot down as many as 4 drones, and according to the investigation, these drones did not enter Polish airspace from Ukraine, but came from Belarus.

In response to this incident, the Polish government has formally invoked article 4 of the North Atlantic Convention ("NATO" for short). This clause clearly stipulates that if the national security of NATO members led by the United States is threatened, member states must consult on this.

Poland believes that the Russian drone's entry into its own airspace is an "act of aggression", so it initiates this clause to seek internal coordination of NATO.

The Russian Ministry of Defense responded quickly, and clearly denied the allegations in Poland. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that the Russian military has never designated Polish territory as any long-range strike target, and this position is very clear.

At the same time, in response to the drones mentioned in Poland, the Russian Ministry of Defense explained that the drones used in the recent night attack on western Ukraine have a range of no more than 700 kilometers, which eliminates the possibility of these drones "deliberately entering Polish airspace" from a technical level.

In addition, the Russian Ministry of Defense also expressed a positive attitude, saying it was willing to "consult" with Polish defense officials on the drone dispute to promote the proper resolution of the issue, and reiterated that "no targets were designated on Polish territory."

At the same time, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense also disclosed information related to the Russian military operations to supplement the context of the incident. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said that the attack launched by the Russian military at night targeted multiple military industrial facilities in western Ukraine.

Specifically, the Russian army attacked a tank manufacturing plant and an aircraft manufacturing plant in Lviv, while also attacking other military industrial facilities in Ivano-Frankovsk, Khmelnitsky and the Zhitomir region.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense pointed out in a statement that these attacked facilities are mainly used to manufacture long-range drones, armored vehicles and combat aircraft, and are an important part of Ukrainian military industrial system.

As a close ally of Russia, Belarus also expressed its opinion on the matter.

Belarus said that before the drone entered Polish airspace, it had issued a warning to the Polish military to inform the Polish side: The multiple drones used by Kiev (the capital of Ukraine, referring to Ukraine) and Moscow (the capital of Russia, referring to Russia) have deviated from the original route due to interference and attacks from both sides' electronic warfare equipment.

This statement from Belarus attempts to explain the possible reasons for the drone entering Polish airspace from a technical perspective, echoing Russia's denial position.

The EU clearly stands on the Polish side, and the EU's top diplomat Kaya Karas directly blamed Russia for the drone incident. She said that this is "Russia's most serious European airspace invasion" since the outbreak of the Ukrainian conflict, and the nature is very bad.

Karas further pointed out that there are currently "unspecified "signs that this incident was not an accident, but a intentional act of Russia", and severely criticized Russia's behavior.

As of now, there are still obvious differences in the statements of the parties regarding the drone incident: Poland insists that Russia is the party responsible for the incident, Russia firmly denies that Belarus has provided "electronic warfare to deviate routes" The EU supports Polish position, while Ukraine's information complements the Russian military's operational background.

Whether the subsequent event will trigger further diplomatic interactions or changes in the regional situation remains to be seen.