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This is a breaking news story and may be updated as further details emerge.
A Russian military helicopter briefly entered Polish airspace on Wednesday morning, the operational command of Poland’s armed forces has announced.
The incident is the latest in a series of airspace violations by Russia, which have also involved drones and, most recently, a missile. It follows recent warnings by the Polish government that Moscow has been planning further “provocations” intended to test NATO’s defences and unity.
❗️ Informujemy, że 23 września br. o godz. 11.08, na północ od miejscowości Braniewo, doszło do krótkotrwałego naruszenia przestrzeni powietrznej Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej przez śmigłowiec Mi-8 Sił Zbrojnych Federacji Rosyjskiej.
Śmigłowiec wykonywał lot z Obwodu Królewieckiego.… pic.twitter.com/afULQdSeTc
— Dowództwo Operacyjne RSZ (@DowOperSZ) September 23, 2026
On Wednesday afternoon, Polish operational command announced that, shortly after 11:00 a.m. that day, an Mi-8 helicopter belonging to the Russian armed forces had briefly entered Polish airspace near the town of Braniewo, after crossing from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
The helicopter did not travel further than 300 metres into Polish airspace and remained there for 42 seconds. In response, the Polish military scrambled fighter jets and placed ground forces on standby.
“The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is once again testing the readiness of our air defences,” wrote operational command. At the time of writing, Russia has not commented on the incident.
Today’s violation appears to be the first publicly reported instance of a Russian military helicopter crossing Poland’s land border. Last year, in two separate incidents, a Russian Su-24 bomber and a naval helicopter flew over Poland’s territorial waters in the Baltic Sea.
In 2023, two helicopters belonging to the armed forces of Belarus, a close ally of Russia, briefly entered Polish airspace before crossing back over the border.
On one night in September last year, around 20 Russian drones entered Poland over its eastern borders amid Russian attacks on Ukraine. Polish and allied forces shot down some of them, while others hit the ground without causing casulaties.
In July this year, a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile carrying a significant explosive payload entered Polish airspace before landing in a field in eastern Poland.
The object that crashed in the Lublin region on Thursday was a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile carrying a "significant amount" of explosive material.
The missile was "potentially very dangerous,” Poland's defence ministry confirmedhttps://t.co/NoqZwIcaWp
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) July 31, 2026
In recent months, Poland and other NATO countries have been warning of Russian plans to carry out further “provocations” intended to test the alliance’s defences and unity, saying that they could include border and airspace violations.
In recent weeks, Poland has regularly intercepted Russian aircraft that have flown close to Polish territorial waters in the Baltic Sea. This month, Russian drones have repeatedly hit targets in Ukraine close to the Polish border, including a passenger train travelling from Kyiv to Warsaw.
Just last week, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned that, according to intelligence sources, Russia is planning drone and missile strikes on eastern NATO countries, which it would present as accidental.
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Alexander Kopitar/Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY-SA 4.0)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
