Ukraine says Russia drone incursion a part of stress plan towards West

Russia intentionally flew drones into the airspace of NATO member Poland this month to check the alliance’s response, stoke fatigue in member states with its warfare on Ukraine and step up stress on the West, the Ukrainian navy spy company mentioned on Friday (September 26, 2025).

It despatched the written evaluation to Reuters after NATO jets downed Russian drones that entered Polish airspace on September 9-10. This week, unidentified drones shut down air site visitors in components of Denmark.

The evaluation solely addressed the incident in Poland.

“Such hybrid operations likely aim to increase pressure on Ukraine’s Western partners, potentially leading to: Reduced support for Ukraine, especially military aid,” the company wrote.

Russia denies it deliberate to focus on something in Poland with drones because it was attacking neighbouring Ukraine. U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned within the rapid aftermath that it was doable the drones had ended up there by mistake.

Ukraine makes use of jamming and digital techniques to attempt to suppress and divert incoming Russian drone and missile strikes, however the Ukrainian spy company mentioned it had dominated that out because the trigger.

“UAVs (drones) entered Poland not only from Ukraine but also from Belarus. Some UAVs penetrated up to 100 km (60 miles) into Polish territory, far beyond the range of Ukrainian electronic warfare systems,” it mentioned.

It additionally pointed to the big variety of drones – round 20, it estimated – concerned within the incident. The fashions included the Gerbera decoy drone, the usage of which indicated that Russia had not supposed to hit something, the Ukrainian company mentioned.

’Part of broader plan’

Tensions have mounted on NATO’s jap flank with Russia in current weeks. Apart from the Polish incursion, Estonia accused Russia of sending three fighter jets into its airspace final week, whereas Romania has come near capturing down a drone.

Earlier on Friday, the Kremlin mentioned that discuss of capturing down Russian navy planes over Europe was reckless, aggressive and marked a severe escalation of rigidity close to Russia’s border.

Without addressing the more moderen incidents, the Ukrainian company mentioned: “This incident (in Poland) is part of Russia’s broader plan to expand aggression into countries bordering Ukraine”.

“It serves as a warning to NATO and a test of their response to attacks on member states. It is also intended to intimidate the Polish population.”

It assessed there had been 10 violations of Moldovan airspace by Russian drones this 12 months, and that 14 drones had crashed on Romanian territory throughout assaults on close by port infrastructure in Ukraine since 2023.

“Violations of airspace in countries bordering Ukraine have become systematic during Russian combined air attacks on Ukrainian civilian and critical infrastructure,” it mentioned.