A Russian drone crashed in eastern Poland overnight on Tuesday and Wednesday, setting fire to a cornfield and blowing out the windows of many homes.
According to local media, the drone crashed in a cornfield in the town of Osiny, in eastern Lublin Voivodeship, little over 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border and about 40 kilometers from Warsaw.
Polish Deputy Defense Minister Stanislaw Wzientek said investigators suspect “perhaps not with absolute certainty, but with very high probability” that a Russian Gerbera drone with a Chinese engine fell near Osiny and “exploded in midair.”
If confirmed, it would be the same model linked to a similar incident in Lithuania last month. A military forensic expert at the site also confirmed the drone carried explosives.
At the same time, Pawel Wronski, spokesman for Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, said the object that exploded in the cornfield was the Russian version of a Shahed drone.
He said Poland will send Russia a diplomatic note in response.
Gen. Dariusz Malinowski, deputy commander of the Armed Forces’ Operational Command, said the drone was launched from Russia.
Malinowski added it remains unclear whether this was a deliberate breach of Polish airspace or a malfunction of a drone aimed at Ukraine.
Deputy Prime Minister and acting Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz called it a Russian provocation.
“Russia is once again provoking NATO countries after the drone incidents in Romania, Lithuania and Latvia,” he said.
“This is happening at an especially important moment, as discussions about peace continue.
It is happening at a time when there is hope that the war started by Russia — a war against the Ukrainian state, and one that also threatens the security of NATO countries – has a chance to end,” Kosiniak-Kamysz added.
