Russian Mi-8 Crosses the Polish Border North of Braniewo, 300 Metres Deep for 42 Seconds — Fighters Scrambled, Sikorski Names an Apology as the Price
Braniewo, 23 September 2026
Key points
- Poland's Operational Command: at 11:08 on 23 September a Mi-8 of the Russian armed forces crossed north of Braniewo, in the Warmian-Masurian voivodeship. "The helicopter was flying from the Kaliningrad region. It violated Polish airspace to a maximum depth of about 300 metres and remained in it for 42 seconds." Radar tracked it, fighters were scrambled, ground-based air defence stood by, and it turned back on its own
- Lieutenant Colonel Jacek Goryszewski, the command's spokesman: "Russia is once again testing the readiness of our air defence." Russian forces were training in Kaliningrad that day and the command was watching. The Maritime Border Guard reported a steel-coloured helicopter and patrols on the Vistula Lagoon
- Radosław Sikorski, in New York after the Security Council, in PAP's account: "If the Russian side says 'we're sorry, the pilot made a mistake', we won't make a big deal out of it. But whoever is at fault must feel guilty." Decisions on shooting down intruders rest with the military commanders
- On 22 September Polish fighters intercepted an Il-20 about 40 kilometres off the coast, after intercepts north of Ustka in early September and north of Łeba on 31 August. No summons or diplomatic note over the Mi-8 had been announced
The Operational Command published the helicopter's depth and duration within three hours; by the evening the foreign minister's stated price for closing the file was an apology.
The crossing ended a count the command had kept in public. On 15 September its spokesman said no violation of Polish airspace had been observed since 31 July, the day a Kh-101 cruise missile came down 100 kilometres inside Poland; for that one Warsaw summoned the Russian ambassador and handed over a note. The Baltic intercepts in between were over international waters and drew statements from the defence minister, not the foreign ministry. Kosiniak-Kamysz on the Il-20: "These are not isolated incidents but an element of constant pressure." Overnight into Wednesday, Polish and Romanian fighters flew during Russia's jet-drone attack on western Ukraine, and both commands reported no violation.
Sikorski's formula came with a boundary. Asked whether Poland would shoot down intruding Russian aircraft, he said the constitution is clear if the Air Force and the Operational Commander determine that a crossing is intentional and threatens citizens' lives or property: the army defends the homeland. Marcin Przydacz, from the president's office, asked for a tougher stance and "an appropriate military response" managed by the Operational Command. Russia had not commented.
Warsaw's answers this month have run through different ministries: the Operational Command met the Dorohusk drone with a pre-authorised shoot-down order and the Mi-8 with a scramble, while the foreign ministry, which summoned the ambassador for the Kh-101, has offered Moscow an apology as the way out. The comparator is Finland: an Il-20 about nine kilometres into Finnish airspace for roughly three minutes in August, and a summons with a note the next day. The difference is not the scale of the crossing but the instrument chosen for it, and whether a note follows will say whether a manned crossing of 300 metres is being filed with the missile or with the intercepts. Signal No. 152 set the crossing against the command's own seven-week count and the Utö precedent.
Related · Russian incursions and Poland's response
- Russian Drone and Missile Incursions into NATO Territory: The Running Record
- A Russian Kh-101 Comes Down 100 Kilometres Inside Poland — Warsaw Dates the Airframe to the Second Quarter of 2026
- Poland's Operational Commander Issues a Pre-Authorised Shoot-Down Order for a Jet Drone 4km Short of the Border at Yahodyn
- NATO Calls the Poland and Romania Airspace Violations Evidence of Russia's Increasing Tolerance for Risk
