The incident comes as Polish prosecutors revealed that a Russian Gerbera 2 drone found in the Baltic Sea last week was carrying a high-explosive fragmentation warhead. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned on September 17 that Russia could launch drone or missile attacks against countries that support Ukraine and try to pass them off as accidents. European officials have accused Moscow several times this year of using sabotage, cyberattacks, espionage and drone operations to pressure kyiv supporters as Russia continues its full-scale war against its neighbor. In August, Germany blamed Russia for an attempted explosive drone attack on Leipzig/Halle airport, while earlier this month Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen accused a Russian frigate of firing two flares at a Danish military helicopter. He called the incident an attempt to test NATO and said it was part of Russia’s increasingly aggressive strategy of hybrid warfare. In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, Polish President Karol Nawrocki accused Russia of “ruthless persistence” in its efforts to “conquer a neighboring state and destabilize the entire region.” “We are not the ones seeking confrontation,” he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow does not plan to attack NATO countries, but Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that any European attack on Russia would trigger a different and “very short” war. Tusk’s office and the Russian embassy in Warsaw did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment. This story has been updated. Cheyanne M. Daniels provided reporting from New York.
