The information focuses on the drones' flight path. At least five of the drones flew on Tuesday night in a way that suggests they could have attacked Rzeszow.
The city is located a few miles from the border with Ukraine, in southeastern Poland. A large proportion of aid, both civilian and military, from the Western world to Ukraine is transported here for transshipment and then driven into Ukraine. In connection with the airport, which is also used for civilian traffic, there are air defense systems of the Patriot type stationed, as well as soldiers who monitor the airspace around the clock.
A Russian attack?
Even foreign political leaders who visit Ukraine usually travel to Rzeszow, and then continue by night train to Kyiv. For example, the then US President Joe Biden traveled that way in early 2023.
When the Russian drones crossed the border into Poland, Polish F16 planes and Dutch F35 planes were sent up and shot down at least three of more than 20 drones, according to Der Spiegel. According to a NATO spokesperson, it is the first time that Russian attack drones have been shot down over the territory of a NATO country.
The question is now how NATO will react to what is being described by more and more people as a deliberate act. "Or should one rather say an attack?", asks the German news magazine.
Extraordinary meeting
The UN Security Council will hold an extraordinary meeting, after a request from Poland, according to the country's foreign minister. The meeting will discuss the violation of the country's airspace. The UN Security Council announces that the extraordinary meeting will be held on Friday, reports news agencies.
Poland also announces that air traffic in the eastern part of the country will be restricted.
News agency AFP reports that Germany announces that it will "extend and expand" its role in NATO's "air policing", which means patrolling the airspace, of the Polish airspace. The number of German fighter planes in the operation is doubled to four, and the mission is extended by three months and thus applies until the end of the year.
President Emmanuel Macron announces that France will support NATO's operation with three fighter planes, "to help protect Polish airspace and Europe's eastern flank", writes Macron on X.
