Warsaw turns to Ukraine for drone warfare expertise after Russian drones enter Polish airspace

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Poland is drawing on Ukraine’s expertise in battle-tested drone warfare, establishing joint military training programs and manufacturing projects, officials from Warsaw and Kyiv announced Thursday, just over a week after Russian drones entered Polish airspace and exposed NATO’s vulnerability to a new generation of uncrewed systems.

Drones used for defense and attack have taken a central battlefield role in the more than three years since Russia invaded Ukraine, transforming how wars are waged, and countries are keen to master the new and quickly developing battlefield technology.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal said he and his visiting Polish counterpart Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz signed a memorandum to create a joint working group for uncrewed systems.

Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said Thursday in Warsaw that over the previous night there was “increased activity of Belarusian and Russian drones which tried to cross into Polish airspace.” None of the drones made it, but he said the border will stay closed until Poland is sure there will be no further provocations.

Ukraine claims battlefield successes in Donetsk

At the same time, Ukrainian forces are fighting back against an 18-month Russian push on the front line in Donetsk that seeks to complete Moscow’s capture of the entire eastern region and has made creeping advances over open countryside.

Ukraine’s recent Donetsk counteroffensive has retaken around 160 square kilometers (60 square miles) of land and seven settlements, with almost 100 Russians taken prisoner, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday after a visit to the area.

Ukraine is short-handed against Russia’s bigger army. Russia has over 700,000 troops on the front line now, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday at a meeting with leaders of his country’s political parties.

Ukraine and Poland, meanwhile, will jointly test new methods of intercepting drones, exchange military experience in the field of drone warfare, and work to ensure more compatibility between the Ukrainian and Polish armed forces, Shmyhal wrote on Telegram.

Last week’s Russian incursion into Poland, which caused NATO to send fighter jets to shoot down the drones, heightened tensions in Eastern Europe about Moscow’s territorial ambitions. The war between Russia and Ukraine has continued despite months of U.S. efforts to stop it, including a U.S.-Russia summit meeting in Alaska.

NATO announced it was strengthening its defensive posture on its eastern flank bordering Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Moscow, meanwhile, showcased its conventional and nuclear military power in long-planned exercises with Belarus that fueled Western concerns about Russia’s intentions.

Ukraine and Poland increase security cooperation

The Ukrainian and Polish government ministers also signed in Kyiv an agreement to work together more closely on defense.

“We are taking our security cooperation to a new level in response to Russian terror, which threatens Ukraine and other European countries,” Shmyhal said.

Ukraine’s air defenses shot down or jammed 48 out of 75 Russian drones launched at the country overnight, the air force said Thursday.

Rail infrastructure was again hit, part of a recent pattern of strikes.

Zelenskyy said Wednesday that strikes on energy and railway infrastructure are meant to disrupt supply lines and create social tension.

Ukraine hits another Russian refinery

Ukraine has been developing long-range drones and missiles that seek to take the battle to Russia instead of just defending itself from the invasion.

Two Ukrainian drones attacked the neftekhim Salavat oil refinery, owned by the state oil company Gazprom, in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan, starting a fire, Gov. Radiy Khabirov said Thursday. There were no casualties, he said.

The target was more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from Ukraine.

An official in Ukraine’s Security Service confirmed to The Associated Press that it carried out the refinery attack.

The drones struck the primary oil refining unit at the complex, and a large fire broke out, according to the source who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the operation.

Ukraine has increasingly taken aim at Russia’s refineries. Russia is the world’s second-largest oil exporter, with revenue from the sector crucial for its war effort. Sustained Ukrainian drone strikes as well as a seasonal rise in demand recently have brought shortages at the pumps.

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Associated Press journalist Claudia Ciobanu in Berlin contributed.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine