Russian helicopter violates Polish airspace

A Russian helicopter has violated Polish airspace over the territorial waters of the Baltic Sea.

This was reported by the operational command of the Polish Armed Forces.

The Russian helicopter was detected by radar systems of the Polish Armed Forces and civilian air navigation services.

In connection with the violation of airspace, the Polish Air Defense Force were put on full combat alert.

According to the operational command, these actions of Russian aviation may indicate an attempt to test and reconnoiter Russia’s response to potential threats to Polish air defense systems. According to the command, the helicopter itself was part of the Russian Baltic Fleet.

It should be noted that this is not the first violation of airspace by Russian aviation. For example, on February 11, 2025, a Russian Su-24MR frontline reconnaissance aircraft violated Polish airspace in the eastern part of the Gulf of Gdansk.

The aircraft was flying from the Kaliningrad area, violated Polish airspace at 14:09 local time, entering at a depth of 6.5 kilometers, and stayed in it for 1 minute and 12 seconds.

Polish air surveillance services were in contact with the Russian side, which stated that the violation was due to a “navigation system failure” of the Su-24MR.

In addition to directly violating airspace, Russian aircraft fly in the air defense identification zone of other countries, including the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, as well as Finland and Sweden.

Recently, Militarnyi reported that Swedish JAS 39 Gripen fighters, which had been patrolling NATO airspace from Poland since April, had first been used to intercept a Russian airplane.

Two Gripen fighters took off from Malbork airbase and made a visual identification of a Russian Il-20M reconnaissance aircraft.

The identification took place in international airspace over the Baltic Sea, north of the Polish coast.