The Polish Ministry of Defence, which Mariusz Blaszczak heads, decided to increase its military presence on the border with Belarus after discovering that two Belarusian helicopters had breached Polish airspace.
Blaszczak has given the order to increase the number of soldiers stationed on the border and to deploy more personnel and resources, such as combat helicopters.
“NATO has been informed about the incident,” the Ministry of Defense added.
According to the findings of an investigation, two Belarusian helicopters violated Polish airspace near the Bialowieza region while flying at an extremely low altitude, which made it difficult for Polish radar systems to identify the breach. Consequently, the Polish Military Operational Command said its radar systems did not register airspace violations.
As per the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the temporary chargé d’affaires of the Belarusian embassy in Warsaw was called to the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he was informed that on August 1 that two Belarusian helicopters violated Polish airspace.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland expressed a strong protest and called on the Belarusian side to immediately and thoroughly explain the incident,” the statement reads.
In Warsaw, the incident is perceived “as another element of escalating tensions on the Polish-Belarusian border,” they expect Belarus to refrain from such activities.
The Belarusian Ministry of Defence has officially denied the charges that helicopters from the Belarusian Air Force and Air Defence Forces violated Polish airspace. The helicopters in question were the Mi-24 and the Mi-8. They argued that the Polish military-political leadership made up the claims to explain Poland’s growing military presence near the Belarusian border, and they claimed that the allegations were falsified.
The Belarusian Ministry of Defence categorically rejected the Polish government’s allegations, characterising them as baseless and analogous to “hearsay.” They emphasised that the helicopters did not violate Polish airspace and accused Poland of using the event to heighten tensions on the Polish-Belarusian border. They claimed that Poland was using the incident to escalate tensions.
