A suspected Russian military drone crashed into a cornfield in eastern Poland early Wednesday, exploding on impact and damaging several nearby homes in the latest incident, heightening tensions along NATO’s eastern flank.
The drone came down near the village of Osiny, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) southeast of Warsaw and roughly the same distance from the Ukrainian and Belarusian borders. Local media footage showed a flash of light followed by a loud blast, with shattered windows reported in several houses, but no injuries.
Police called by residents found burnt debris made of plastic and metal at the site, while photos published by the portal Onet showed what appeared to be a charred engine with a propeller. The crash left a crater measuring about six meters in diameter and half a meter deep, prosecutors said. It remained unclear whether the explosion happened in midair or upon impact.
“At this stage, we are dealing with a military drone. The damage was most likely caused by explosives. A military expert is on the way to confirm these circumstances,” district Prosecutor Grzegorz Trusiewicz said, ruling out the possibility of a civilian drone but stressing that full conclusions would follow an investigation.
