For the first time during the full-scale war in Ukraine, Poland has shot down multiple Russian drones in its airspace on September 10, but a third of Poles have blamed the strike on Ukraine, not Russia, according to a study by the Res Futura Foundation.

During Russia's massive attack on Ukraine on the night of September 10, several attack drones flew into Polish territory. The Polish air forces moved to intercept and shoot them down, causing the wreckage of one of the downed drones to damage a residential building.

While Nato officially designated the incident as an attack on Poland, it stopped short of calling it an act of war that could have triggered Nato’s Article 5 collective security agreement. Instead, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk activated Article 4 of the treaty, that triggers consultations with allies if a country feels its security is at risk.

Nevertheless, 38% of Poles blame Ukraine for the drone attack, according to the Res Futura Foundation study. As bne IntelliNews reported, support for Ukraine is slowly fading as the war drags into its fourth year.

Only 35% of Poles now believe their country should support Ukraine’s EU membership bid, while 37% back Nato accession in June. In both cases, 42% of respondents were opposed. These figures stand in stark contrast to polling conducted by IBRiS in 2022, shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion, when 85% supported Ukraine’s EU bid and 75% supported joining Nato.

Tusk informed Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte of the situation and convened an emergency governmental meeting. Polish and allied forces recorded dozens of air targets, according to the Polish Minister of Defence, and the Ukrainian Air Force reported at least eight UAVs that flew into Poland.

The Polish military called the incident an "act of aggression." Since the war in Ukraine began, aerial weapons have been flown into Polish territory several times, but Warsaw termed them as unintentional. Two Russian missiles came down in Ukraine in November 2022, but those were deemed to be off course and unintentionally ended up coming down in Polish territory.

Nato has activated Article 4 in response to the Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace, but it doesn't consider the incident an attack. Polish government spokesman Adam Szlapka says consultations have already taken place.

"We expect significant support during the consultations. This is a confrontation that Russia has declared to the free world," Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.

He also noted that there's no reason to believe that Poland is in a state of war. "But there's no doubt that this provocation is far more dangerous for Poland than previous ones," Tusk added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also called the attack an “escalation” and called on allies to tighten sanctions and provide Ukraine with more air defences.

Nato doesn't consider the drone intrusion a deliberate attack. As Tusk specified, 19 Russian drones entered Polish airspace, mostly from Belarus.

The Kremlin denied Russian involvement in the incident, calling it "baseless and unproven." Russian Chargé d'Affaires Andrey Ordash stated that Russia isn't interested in escalating tensions with Poland. The Russian Defence Ministry also denied planning an attack on Polish territory.