Warning sirens are going west: jet-powered Russian drones bring strikes closer to NATO country
Poland is expanding its warning-siren network as officials prepare for more Russian attacks near the border.
Poland is set to deploy more than 1,000 automated warning sirens in the Lublin Voivodeship by the end of 2026, according to Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński. This significant increase from the current nearly 350 sirens is a response to Russian attacks growing closer to the western border of Ukraine. Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned that Russia may intensify attacks on Ukraine's critical infrastructure and emphasized the potential for accidental drone or missile strikes on NATO countries, including Poland.
On September 17, Russian air strikes triggered air-raid warnings in Poland's Lublin and Podkarpackie regions. Sirens sounded in Lublin and Rzeszów, and residents received SMS alerts warning of a potential air attack. The Polish military quickly activated its aircraft in response to the Russian strikes involving jet-powered drones against western Ukraine. Notably, a Russian drone that was supposed to enter Polish airspace fell just four kilometers from the border, and Polish airspace remained unviolated.
The heightened alert comes amid a series of Russian strikes near the Yahodyn-Dorohusk border crossing, which damaged a gas station and a Kyiv-Warsaw passenger train's locomotive about two kilometers from the Polish border. No deaths were reported, and the border crossing temporarily halted operations. Polish authorities activated ground-based air-defense systems and increased radar reconnaissance to prevent any violation of Polish airspace.
In addition to the expanded siren system, Poland has marked nearly 3,500 official shelter locations in Lublin Voivodeship. On September 19, Polish authorities conducted emergency drills to practice responses to warning signals and emergency alerts. Prime Minister Tusk described the 17 September strikes as a massive and brutal invasion reminiscent of the Soviet Union's 1939 invasion of Poland, while Kyiv's Foreign Minister called for a full trade embargo, entry ban, and sanctions against Russia's military-industrial complex.
Written by urgent.news from Euromaidan Press's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
