Tusk Warns Against Sharing Russian Disinformation Amid Drone Attack

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk emphasized on social media that spreading Russian propaganda and disinformation is detrimental to the Polish state. He wrote about this in a post on social media platform X.

“The spread of Russian propaganda and disinformation in today’s situation is detrimental to the Polish state, directly targeting the security of the homeland and its citizens. Stupidity, much less political views, should not be treated as a mitigating circumstance,” Tusk wrote.

Marcin Kierwinski, the Polish Interior Minister, also advocated against using the Russian drone attack as a tool to divide society, labeling those who do so as “Kremlin-sponsored idiots.”

The military urged caution when approaching any information that appears on the internet.

“Stay calm, but stay informed. Beware of disinformation! After an unprecedented drone attack over Poland, we are seeing an increase in disinformation on the internet—repeated comments, fake accounts, and narratives that undermine the effectiveness of Polish defense and NATO operations,” the Polish Armed Forces General Staff said.

On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski, among others, reported on the spread of disinformation by Russian and Belarusian secret services.

“The amount of disinformation on the internet is constantly growing. The Russian Federation and Belarusian services are behind this organized campaign. This campaign aims to promote the Russian narrative regarding who, why, and how the drones ended up on Polish territory,” said Gawkowski.

He stressed that the disinformation activities of the Russian and Belarusian services are aimed at shifting the responsibility for the violation of Polish airspace to the Ukrainian side and discrediting the actions of the Polish military and security services.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski also spoke about disinformation spread by Russia.

“I want to underscore that neither Poland nor NATO will succumb to intimidation. Our Ukrainian neighbors, on a much larger and more tragic scale, endure similar experiences almost every night. Let us remember this, show solidarity with Ukraine, and not repeat Russian disinformation,” Sikorski said.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that the military had preliminarily counted 19 violations of the country’s airspace by Russian attack drones. The media unofficially reported more than 20 UAVs.

A spokesman for the Polish government said that NATO had invoked Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which provides for consultations.

In Moscow, initial comments on the drones over Poland referred to “provocations” and stated that Russia had no intention of attacking Poland and that the drones used against Ukraine allegedly did not have sufficient range to do so.