The Kremlin on Friday suggested that it was Europe’s fault for responding to the Polish drone incident.
On Sept. 10, a total of 19 Russian drones violated Polish airspace during Moscow’s overnight aerial attack across Ukraine that prompted NATO’s historic airspace interception.
On Friday, Sept. 19, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova doubled down on Moscow’s denial and blamed Europe for the supposed escalation instead.
“What we are witnessing is yet another link in a large-scale information campaign designed to demonize Russia and rally additional support for the Kiev [sic] regime, as well as an attempt to sabotage a political resolution of the conflict surrounding Ukraine,” Zakharova said in a statement, according to Russian state media TASS.
The violation prompted Poland to invoke NATO’s Article 4 for emergency consultations and bolstered air policing on the alliance’s eastern flank – but no military response against Moscow.
Ironically, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said NATO is not at war with Russia after the incident – a statement disputed by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov who claimed that NATO is, in fact, at war with Russia.
Zakharova also claimed the facts presented by Moscow were ignored.
“Of course, the clarifications provided by the Russian Defense Ministry and the facts presented are being ignored,” Zakharova said.
TASS, citing previous statements from Moscow, said the drones discovered were only capable of reaching 700 kilometers (435 miles), and thus should rule out the Kremlin’s complicity.
But does it?
Examining Moscow’s claims
First, it is unclear how Russia is able to determine the range of the drones supposedly found in Poland if they were not of Russian origin (with no signs of them being of Ukrainian design at present).
The stated range also does not rule out the possibility that they were launched from Belarus or Russia.
AP News listed the locations of the drone wreckage found across Poland on the day of the incident. In it, one of the drones that traveled farthest inland was found in Mniszków, a village southeast of Łódź, about 260 kilometers (161 miles) from the Belarusian border – within the range stated by Moscow.
At the time of the incident, Belarus and Russia were conducting the Zapad-2025 war games, with Belarus having also been the launching pad for Russia’s 2022 invasion.
And assuming the drones were launched from Russia, the majority of the locations listed in the AP report in eastern Poland are still within the 700 km range.
The Polish village of Cześniki, for example, is approximately 600 km (373 miles) from the Russian border with Belarus, assuming it was launched from Russian territory, not Belarus.
The Russian Gebera drones found in Poland also had extra fuel tanks in place of warheads, allowing them to fly further while raising doubts about Moscow’s claims.
In layman’s terms, the Kremlin appears to be contradicting itself.