Poland pledges to strengthen security after drone strikes along border with Ukraine

WARSAW, Poland -- Poland pledged increased security along its border with Ukraine after a wave of Russian drone strikes near the frontier, including two that landed within kilometers of Polish territory.

The move came as Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned that Moscow appears poised to intensify its campaign against Ukraine’s borders with European countries. Ukraine is under mounting pressure from Russia’s intensifying air campaign that uses ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones to pierce defenses.

“These coming weeks and months will be a time of very intensified actions on the Russian side, and unfortunately we cannot rule out that this escalation will also affect our territory,” Tusk said Sunday after a governmental security briefing in Warsaw. He issued a similar warning on Thursday.

Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said Monday in a post on X that the Polish army recovered what was believed to be a Russian military drone from the Baltic Sea near the coastal village of Jaroslawiec.

Polish officials said intelligence reports, including a CIA briefing last week, suggested Russia was likely to attack border points and intensify sabotage actions inside European countries as part of its efforts to discourage partners from supporting Ukraine.

Tusk said he would consult NATO allies on preparing a potential joint response.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski underscored the alliance’s military edge in a social media post, saying that in the event of Russian aggression against NATO, European NATO air forces, without U.S. participation, would be capable of destroying half of Russia’s oil refineries faster than Ukraine.

Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk described Sunday’s drone strikes as a serious escalation from Russia. He told broadcaster TVN24 on Monday that any spillover into European countries could take the form of sabotage or a sharp intensification of hybrid warfare “on a scale that we have not seen before,” or other actions along NATO’s borders.

The warnings followed a strike Sunday on a train near the Ukraine-Poland border, minutes after a diplomatic delegation that included former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt had passed through the same station, according to Ukraine’s state rail operator.