Polish forces said they shot down multiple "drone-type objects" that violated the country's airspace in the early hours of Wednesday, prompting an extraordinary meeting of the government and a rapid NATO military response that included fighters from allied states.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the objects "could have posed a threat" and that the operation to identify and neutralize them was ongoing. Authorities urged residents in the Podlaskie, Mazowieckie and Lublin regions to stay indoors while service personnel searched for possible crash sites and assessed the security situation.

The Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces said it scrambled air defenses and used weapons against targets after detecting repeated violations of national airspace. NATO fighters were also deployed in neighbouring Slovakia and Romania, and at least one U.S. F-35 was among coalition jets reported to be involved. A refueling aircraft was sent from the Netherlands to support the mission, according to officials and flight-tracking data.

Poland's government announced that Prime Minister Tusk convened his cabinet and planned an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers to determine the next steps. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued notices affecting four Polish airports, including Warsaw's Chopin Airport, although Polish authorities had not immediately confirmed official airport closures.

There was no immediate confirmation from Russia's Defence Ministry that the country had launched drones into Polish airspace. Ukrainian officials said Russian missile and drone strikes were continuing inside Ukraine at the same time, and the Ukrainian Air Force reported that some unmanned aerial vehicles were heading west toward the Polish border.

Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said Moscow's forces had launched a series of missile and drone attacks that posed a threat beyond Ukrainian territory. "The terrorist country continues the war," he wrote on social media, adding that the strikes endangered neighboring states.

U.S. and European lawmakers voiced concern. Republican Rep. Joe Wilson described the incursion as "an act of war," saying on X that Russia was "attacking NATO ally Poland" and urging strong sanctions and stepped-up military support for Ukraine. Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said the episode was a sign that Russian President Vladimir Putin was testing NATO's resolve to protect Poland and the Baltic states. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy told CNN that, although he had not received a formal briefing, drones over Poland would be "incredibly serious." Sen. Marco Rubio was reported to have been briefed on the situation.

The incident represents the first known direct military engagement between Russia and a NATO member since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, underscoring the heightened risks along NATO's eastern flank. Tusk said he was in constant contact with the president and defence minister and had received a direct report from the operational commander overseeing the response.

Poland has previously expressed alarm about large-scale Russian and Belarusian military exercises, and on Thursday the government planned to close its border with Belarus in connection with those drills. "Zapad-2025" — a Russia-Belarus exercise scheduled in western Russia and Belarus — has raised security concerns in Warsaw, Vilnius and Riga, which fear the manoeuvres could be used to apply pressure to neighbouring NATO members.

Flight-monitoring service FlightRadar24 said notices to airmen were active for several Polish airports and traffic areas, with some flights routed farther west than usual. Ukraine's air-raid alerts remained in effect for regions near Poland's border, including Volyn and Lviv, as Kyiv's air defences tracked incoming strikes.

Poland's Operational Command said forces remained on full readiness for immediate response. Russian activity along the border, combined with the reported drone incursions, is likely to keep NATO diplomats and military planners engaged in urgent consultations in the coming hours and days as allied capitals seek to confirm the origin of the objects and determine appropriate political and defensive measures.

The White House and the State Department had not issued public comments early Wednesday. Russia's defence ministry had not immediately confirmed responsibility for the flights into Polish airspace, and investigations by Polish and allied authorities were continuing.