Speaking in Nowa Dęba, southeastern Poland, on Friday, Donald Tusk said he is in contact with Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek, who will take charge of actions related to the investigation.
Tusk repeated that participants in the air defense operation, both Polish and allied, have the government’s full support and legal cover as prosecutors review the case.
He said Poland would remain focused on facts, and that accurate information would be made broadly available.
The prime minister rejected claims circulating online that the overnight incursion on September 10 was accidental or a Ukrainian provocation.
He said Polish authorities have sufficient information about the origin, launch points and intent behind the drones, and urged the public to rely on official communications from Polish institutions.
He also said he would press publicly funded media to participate in a sustained effort to counter Russian disinformation, calling it a matter of national security.
The Operational Command of Poland's Armed Forces reported in the early hours of Wednesday that multiple drones crossed into Polish airspace during a large-scale Russian strike on Ukraine.
Defensive procedures were activated and objects that posed a direct threat were shot down.
The government later said the operation, supported by allied aircraft, marked the first known instance of a NATO member firing during Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Detailing the response in parliament, Tusk said on Wednesday the operation involved ground-based air defenses, AWACS aircraft (short for Airborne Warning and Control System, which provides wide-area surveillance and command-and-control for allied air operations), fighter jets including F-35s and F-16s, as well as Mi-24 attack helicopters and Mi-17 and Black Hawk multirole helicopters.
Allied support included Dutch F-35s currently deployed in Poland on a rotational mission, which were scrambled during the incident. Dutch officials said the jets were on NATO duty and prepared to engage if required.
Germany has two Patriot air defense batteries deployed near Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport in southeastern Poland to help protect the border region and the logistics hub that channels Western support to Ukraine, a posture Berlin outlined earlier this year.
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, polskieradio24.pl