The Polish military announced that for the first time it had shot down Russian drones that had violated its airspace, saying that it caused a “real threat to the safety of our citizens.” .
Polish officials said this morning that 19 Russian drones entered the country’s airspace overnight.
Justin Crump, CEO of the risk and intelligence company Sibylline, says the Gerbera is “a cheap way to increase the capability of other drones”.
He says that Moscow typically uses it in conjunction with Shahed/Geran-2 drones when launching attacks on Ukrainian troops and cities.
Meanwhile, Justin Bronk - an analyst with the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) think-tank - tells BBC Verify that the drones remained largely intact as they likely ran out of fuel having flown a significant distance rather than being shot down by Polish air defences or Nato jets.
Both analysts say that the scale of the incursion suggests it was almost certainly a deliberate act on Russia’s part.
Crump suggests that Moscow hoped to conduct “reconnaissance for weak points in Nato/Polish air defences” or to “generate intelligence” on how European powers would react to the breach of Polish airspace.
