ISTANBUL
In a joint statement, over 40 nations including the US called Friday for stronger international action at the UN after Russian drones violated Polish airspace, in what they described as a “destabilizing escalation” threatening regional stability.
Polish Secretary of State Marcin Bosacki presented a joint statement ahead of a Security Council meeting requested by Warsaw.
“For the first time in its history, Poland has decided to request the convening of an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council,” he said. The incursion was “yet another flagrant violation of international law and the Charter of the United Nations committed by the Russian Federation while attacking the territory of Ukraine.”
Bosacki warned that the drones posed “a real threat to the civilian population, infrastructure, and aviation safety,” and stressed that the scale of this sortie, a sweeping incursion across NATO and EU airspace, was unprecedented since the full-scale war began in 2022.
“Such a provocation is profoundly disrespectful toward the collective and tireless efforts of the international community to bring an end to the war and to restore peace and stability in accordance with international law,” he said, thanking South Korea for presiding over the meeting. He repeated Poland’s demand for Russia to cease its aggression, avoid further provocations and adhere to UN Charter principles.
Poland said earlier this week that its airspace was violated by drones during overnight airstrikes between Russia and Ukraine, defining the incursion as an “act of aggression.”
The Russian Defense Ministry denied any intention to strike targets on Polish territory during the attacks, which it claimed targeted enterprises of Kyiv’s military-industrial complex in western Ukraine.