After drones violated Polish airspace overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, all agencies responsible for protecting the country’s digital domain moved to heightened readiness, authorities said.
The country's Joint Cybersecurity Operations Center said it held an extraordinary meeting and is monitoring the situation, with special attention to the safety of critical infrastructure, the networks and systems that keep electricity, transport, communications, and other essential services running.
Officials said Russian and Belarusian actors were pushing coordinated disinformation through many channels and along sophisticated lines, in an effort to shift responsibility for the drone attack to Ukraine, and discredit the Polish military.
The public has been urged to treat social media claims with caution, check sources before sharing, and rely on verified updates from state services.
The Joint Cybersecurity Operations Center brings together representatives of all services engaged in protecting Poland’s cyber ecosystem.
Analysts at NASK, Poland’s National Computer Research Institute, reported a surge in false narratives and outlined the main propaganda narratives now circulating.
NATO’s Article 4, which some posts mention, refers to consultations among Allies when a member’s security is threatened.
Officials identified a number of threats inside Poland’s information space. Posts claim the state failed to warn citizens about the danger, suggesting that authorities and media stayed silent for hours.
Messages assert that Ukraine is drawing Poland into war through a “provocation,” alleging Kyiv allowed drones to cross its airspace and avoided shooting them down.
Narratives say the Polish armed forces are unprepared to defend the country and point to claims that only two drones were downed as evidence of weakness.
Message content alleges that the government wants to shift responsibility for national defense to NATO by talking about Article 4 consultations with NATO partners.
Some posts argue Russia had no interest in the incident and therefore bears no responsibility. Others claim destroying drones weakens Poland’s defenses by depleting munitions.
Messages state that Poland is already at war with Russia, a claim that could incite panic.
Russia has been, in fact, consistently conducting aggressive activities such as arson or cyber warfare attacks, not only against Poland but also the Baltic states and other members of the EU and NATO.
Another line alleges Ukrainians launched drones toward Poland as revenge for President Karol Nawrocki’s statement that Poland would not send troops to Ukraine.
Analysts also flagged general themes pushed by Russian and Belarusian sources. One repeats the claim that Ukraine is trying to drag Poland into the conflict, and is responsible for the drones.
Another says Belarus warned Poland about unmanned aircraft over Ukraine, portraying Minsk as uninvolved in rising tensions.
Several posts frame the episode as a repeat of a previous violation of Poland's airspace, arguing Warsaw is wrongly accusing Russia and that Kyiv is to blame.
Some call the incident “theater” staged by Warsaw and Kyiv, aiming to discredit official Polish statements.
Others deny any attack occurred and cite the absence of photos as proof, casting Poland as a provocateur. Additional posts claim any damage was caused by Polish or Ukrainian air defenses, pairing videos of aircraft noise with assertions of widespread danger.
A prominent line depicts Poland as defenseless against “Geran-2” attack drones, calls the response hysteria, and says Polish defenses could not stop slow targets, all to mock Poland’s capabilities and its reliability as a NATO ally.
Another narrative says Warsaw is escalating the episode to support a Western “war party” and to torpedo an alleged understanding between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, supposedly reached in Alaska, while presenting a purported Russian “peace plan” as reasonable and blaming Ukraine and the West for prolonging the war.
No such peace plan exists and, if anything, Russian bombardment of Ukrainian civilians has intensified since the Alaska meeting.
Further messages claim NATO hid its weakness by not calling the drone incursion an attack, even after multiple Allied aircraft responded, which is used to portray the Alliance as divided and passive.
Anti-system posts present the incident as a media manipulation and false war alarm, allege that decisions are made in Washington and Tel Aviv, deny the value of defending Poland, and frame the event as part of a scripted effort to control the public.
A third cluster is circulating in the Russian-language media sphere. Reports emphasize that Prime Minister Donald Tusk notified NATO, that several airports were closed, and that jets were scrambled, while stressing there is no proof the drones were Russian and recalling the 2022 Przewodów case when an out-of-control Ukrainian air defense missile crashed on the Polish side of the border, killing two people, during what was then the largest Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities to-date.
Narratives also describe a “mass drone attack” to foster panic and depict Polish authorities as unable to control the skies, and themes present “Geran-2” drones as a serious threat, against which NATO is both slow and weak.
Posts say Ukraine’s foreign ministry is pushing the West to shoot down drones over Ukrainian territory, portraying Kyiv as dependent and intent on dragging NATO into direct confrontation, and they highlight the lack of official Polish attribution to cast doubt on Ukraine’s version of events.
Other messages depict the Polish prime minister as overly dramatic and hysterical, say the reaction was exaggerated, and call the alerts a replay of “World War III” scenarios.
Messages also claim that NATO reacted yet stresses the absence of confirmed attribution to undermine credibility.
Some posts point out that Tusk did not state the drones were Russian to argue the West is avoiding escalation.
Others, to question both Poland and its place in the Alliance, mock Poland’s air defenses and say NATO has remained silent. Several narratives frame the episode as a Western provocation against Russia and Trump, with Poland as a tool, while criticizing Tusk for haste.
Additional claims argue the drones were a provocation by Kyiv and Warsaw, with sarcastic references to “UFOs” and alleged existence of “war beneficiaries” - people or entities who gain from the spread of hostilities.
Some suggest the incident could be an internal Polish provocation or a pretext for defense spending, including speculation about manipulated drone debris.
Posts present Poland’s alert posture as another round of information warfare, citing past incidents to sow doubt.
Other messages allege Western orchestration, claim “Geran-2” drones might have been launched by Ukraine, and quote a US congressman calling the incident an “act of war,” despite no Polish confirmation of origin.
A final line, amplified by the SolovievLive channel, calls Poland’s response hysterical, says Warsaw raised NATO alarms without confirmed facts, and revives earlier claims that the West falsely accuses Russia, in order to erode trust in Polish institutions and Allied cohesion.
Authorities said they will continue to provide confirmed updates as the situation develops and reiterated that practicing basic information hygiene, including verifying sources before sharing, helps reduce the impact of hostile campaigns.
Polish leaders warn against spreading Russian narratives
Poland on Wednesday invoked Article 4 of the NATO treaty, which calls for urgent consultations among allies when a member's security is threatened, after Russian drones repeatedly violated Polish airspace overnight.
"Spreading Russian propaganda and disinformation in today’s situation is acting to the detriment of the Polish state, directly targeting the security of our homeland and citizens,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X on Thursday.
“Stupidity, and especially political views, should not be treated as mitigating circumstances,” he added.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said that disinformation serves Russia’s interests.
“At a time of threat we should stand together. Those who exploit the Russian drone attacks to destroy unity and spread disinformation are, at best, useful idiots for the Kremlin,” he wrote.
Polish authorities say Russian drones breached the country’s airspace 19 times during an overnight attack on Ukraine between Tuesday and Wednesday, with some flying in from Belarus.
The military said the incidents marked an “act of aggression” and an “unprecedented event.”
Defence systems shot down drones deemed a threat, and search teams have so far recovered debris from 16 drones, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The Polish military urged caution online, warning that Moscow and its allies were amplifying disinformation after the incident.
“Stay calm but aware. Beware of disinformation,” the General Staff wrote, pointing to fake accounts and posts questioning Poland’s defenses and NATO’s response.
Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said Russia and Belarus were behind a growing wave of online activity aimed at shifting blame for the drone incidents onto Ukraine and discrediting Polish security services.
Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said on Wednesday that the attacks showed Poland and NATO could not be intimidated.
"What Poles experienced last night, Ukrainians endure almost every night on a much greater and more tragic scale," he said, urging solidarity with Kyiv and warning against repeating Russian disinformation.
Officials also cautioned against alarmist claims on social media suggesting Poland was already at war or that major cities had been attacked.
Jacek Dobrzyński, spokesman for Poland's security services, urged people not to believe "fake photos and videos of drones supposedly burning in Polish cities," stressing that only information from official government and military sources can be trusted.
Poland’s digital ministry said citizens should treat all online information with caution, verify sources before sharing, and rely on official channels for updates.
Poland, a NATO and EU member bordering Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, has previously reported missile and drone incursions since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
(rt/gs)
Source: gov.pl, IAR, PAP, TVP Info
Click on the audio player above for a report by Marcin Matuszewski.