During the night and Thursday morning, the Polish army was busy protecting its airspace. The fighters had to escort a Russian reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea, which came dangerously close to the border.
On Thursday morning, Poland spotted a Russian reconnaissance aircraft near its airspace over the Baltic Sea. He was escorted out of the area by Polish fighter jets, the army reported. TASR writes about it according to a Reuters report.
- Polish fighter jets escorted a Russian reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea.
- Russian drones violated Polish airspace.
- Belarusian smuggling balloons repeatedly enter Polish airspace.
- Part of the Polish airspace was closed to civil traffic.
- Belarus denies responsibility for launching smuggled balloons.
Busy night for Polish air defense
The states on the eastern wing of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) have been on high alert since September for a possible violation of their airspace. For 12 minutes, Russian fighter jets violated Estonian airspace, and a few days before, 20 Russian drones entered Polish airspace during the attack on Ukraine.
“Despite the holiday season, it was a busy night for the serving Polish air defense. This morning, over the international waters of the Baltic Sea, Polish fighter jets intercepted, visually identified and escorted from their area of operation a Russian reconnaissance aircraft that was flying near the borders of Polish airspace,” the operational command of the Polish Armed Forces DORSZ said on the X network.
Weather balloons from Belarus
In addition, other objects were spotted entering Polish airspace on Thursday night. According to Warsaw, these were most likely balloons flying in the direction of Belarus, used by smugglers there. For security reasons, part of the airspace over northeastern Poland was temporarily closed to civil traffic.
Meteorological balloons from Belarus repeatedly violate the airspace of Lithuania. Last week, it detained 21 people who are allegedly connected to a criminal network of cigarette smugglers from Belarus. They closed the airport in Vilnius several times for balloons, and Lithuania declared a state of emergency throughout the territory at the beginning of December.
Belarus, which in 2022 allowed the use of its territory for a Russian invasion of Ukraine, denies responsibility for the launch of the balloons and accused Lithuania of provocations.
