Poland says 21 drones entered its airpace, as Tusk slams Trump’s incident dismissal

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said Russia’s drone incursion "wasn’t a mistake" after US President Donald Trump’s remarks downplaying the incident.

Trump, speaking to reporters on the evening of September 11, suggested the incident “could have been an mistake.” He added: “Regardless, I’m not happy about anything having to do with that whole situation. But hopefully it’s going to come to an end," Caliber.Az reports via the Guardian. 

Tusk rejected that interpretation in a statement on X on the morning of September 12: “We would also wish that the drone attack on Poland was a mistake. But it wasn’t. And we know it.”

His comments followed those of Poland’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, who stated: “No, it wasn’t a mistake.”

The Polish government has intensified its diplomatic push in the run-up to a UN Security Council meeting in New York later on September 12, convened at Warsaw’s request. European leaders have rallied behind Poland with offers of support, while officials in Warsaw continue to stress that the attack was deliberate.

Marcin Przydacz, the most senior foreign policy aide to President Karol Nawrocki, said in a radio interview on the morning of September 12 that the number of drones confirmed to have crossed into Polish airspace had risen to 21.

He noted that 17 have been retrieved so far and warned of Russian disinformation efforts aimed at suggesting the drones were Ukrainian.

“Polish authorities were clear they were Russian and launched from the Russian territory,” Przydacz said.

On the night of September 9–10, Poland’s military reported destroying several drones that violated its airspace, with Prime Minister Tusk later confirming 19 airspace violations had been recorded overnight. The scale of the attack prompted Poland to request NATO consultations under Article 4 of the alliance’s founding treaty.

Moscow has denied targeting Polish territory. The Russian Ministry of Defence said its forces carried out strikes against defence industry facilities in western Ukraine that night but insisted “strikes on targets in Poland were not planned.”

It added that the drones allegedly crossing into Poland could not have exceeded a range of 700 km and said it was ready to hold consultations with Warsaw “on this matter.”

By Sabina Mammadli