Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace, Sparking Disinformation Campaign
On the night of September 9-10, 2025, Polish airspace was violated by at least three Russian drones, confirmed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Nineteen incursions were detected in total, coinciding with a Russian attack on Lviv, Ukraine. Drone fragments caused damage to residential buildings in Poland, including a house in Wyryki-Wola. While international leaders rallied in support of Poland and condemned Russia, a wave of disinformation quickly spread online, attempting to shift blame for the incident away from Moscow.
False narratives emerged on social media platforms, including TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Telegram. These narratives asserted that Ukraine was responsible for the drone incursion, suggesting a ploy to draw NATO into direct conflict with Russia. Pro-Russia accounts propagated this theory, claiming Ukraine used drones visually similar to Russian Geran-2s, hoping to falsely implicate Moscow. This disinformation campaign aligns with a broader Russian strategy to deflect blame and undermine international support for Ukraine, as identified by the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD).
Polish officials vehemently refuted these claims. Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski stated that both Polish and NATO assessments confirmed the drones were deliberately targeted at Poland, not merely straying off course. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs, Krzysztof Gawkowski, emphasized that any questioning of the deliberate nature of the incursion lends credence to Russian disinformation efforts, which he described as a component of warfare. Defense analyst Jarosław Wolski anticipated this disinformation campaign, predicting attempts to undermine confidence in NATO and the Polish Armed Forces.
Russia’s Defence Ministry denied responsibility, asserting that the drones targeting Ukrainian facilities had a limited range, insufficient to reach Poland. This contradicts the facts on the ground and aligns with the established pattern of Russian denial in the face of evidence. The disinformation campaign further claimed that Ukraine fabricated the incident using salvaged Geran-2 parts. However, expert analysis conducted on the downed drones by the BBC, including examination of the engines, guidance systems, and production codes, confirmed they matched known Russian Geran-2 models, also known as Gerbera drones, produced under license from Iran’s Shahed-136 design.
The relatively inexpensive materials used in Geran-2 drones, such as plywood, often lead to observations about their flimsy appearance, which were exploited in the disinformation narrative. This appearance, however, aligns with their primary function as decoys and inexpensive saturation tools for air defenses, occasionally carrying explosives. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen affirmed that the drones were indeed Shahed-type drones, commonly employed by Russia in its attacks on Ukraine. The visual similarity between the drones downed in Poland and those previously observed in Ukraine and Lithuania further reinforces their Russian origin. Previous incidents, including the discovery of Russian drone debris in Poland in August 2025, add to the mounting evidence of Russian activity in Polish territory.
Adding another layer to the disinformation campaign, fabricated videos and images claiming to depict the drone incident circulated on platforms like TikTok. One now-deactivated account, @theusmilitarynews.123, posted videos purporting to show the Polish interception of the drones. These videos, however, were identified as originating from the video game “Arma 3”, a tactic previously employed by the same account to misrepresent video game footage as actual war footage from Ukraine. Other videos circulating on TikTok also appeared to be AI-generated or derived from video games, further muddying the waters and adding to the proliferation of false information about the incident. These coordinated efforts to spread false narratives underscore the importance of critical media literacy and reliance on verified information sources in the face of sophisticated disinformation campaigns.
