LONDON (dpa-AFX) - The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has summoned the Russian Ambassador to Britain following significant and unprecedented violation of NATO airspace last week.
Russian drones violated Polish airspace overnight into Wednesday last week, resulting in damage to some residential areas.
The incident reportedly occurred amid a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine.
According to media reports, Polish authorities, with the support of NATO allies, shot down multiple Russian drones that crossed into the country overnight - the first time Russian drones have been downed over NATO territory.
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned that it put his nation at its closest point to open conflict since World War Two.
While some violations of Polish airspace have been reported since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the overnight incident highlights the conflict's growing regional impact.
Russia's Defense Ministry said that the strikes targeted Ukraine's military-industrial sites in its western regions and that there were no intended targets in Poland.
The Russian embassy in London acknowledged that Ambassador Andrei Kelin was summoned to lodge a 'formal protest'.
'Significant and unprecedented violation of Polish and NATO airspace by Russian drones last week - followed by a further incursion into Romanian airspace on Saturday - was utterly unacceptable,' a Foreign Office spokesperson said in a statement on Monday. 'The UK stands united with Poland, Romania, Ukraine and our NATO Allies in unreservedly condemning these reckless actions'.
The spokesperson said that alongside NATO Allies, the UK is bolstering its defenses along the eastern flank, using new technologies such as counter-drone sensors and weapons.
'Russia should understand that its continued aggression only strengthens the unity between NATO allies and our determination to stand with Ukraine, and any further incursions will again be met with force,' the statement warns.
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