A Russian drone has crashed in a field in eastern Poland, according to initial findings, Polish officials said on Wednesday, with the country’s defense minister describing the incident as a provocation.
The drone hit and burned a cornfield in the village of Osiny, in the eastern Lublin province, overnight, just over 100 km from the Ukrainian border and about 90 km from Belarus.
Poland has been on high alert for objects entering its airspace since a stray Ukrainian missile hit a southern Polish village in 2022, killing two people.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Pawel Wronski said that the findings so far and the opinions of some experts indicated that it was a Russian version of the Shahed drone developed in Iran.
General Dariusz Malinowski said the drone appeared to be a decoy designed to self-destruct. He also said it had a Chinese engine.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said the incident had similarities to cases where Russian drones entered Lithuania and Romania, and could be linked to efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
“We are once again facing a provocation by the Russian Federation, with a Russian drone. This is happening at a crucial moment, when peace talks are underway in Ukraine,” he told reporters.
