Poland closes airspace after Belarusian balloon incursion
Polish authorities temporarily closed the airspace along the northern part of Poland's border with Belarus overnight on Jan. 30-31 after unidentified objects — believed to be Belarusian smuggling balloons — were detected in the region.
The incident, the second such airspace incursion this week, forced a halt to civilian aviation in northeastern Podlaskie Voivodeship region, the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces said on social media.
European airports have increasingly dealt with airspace alerts involving drones or unidentified objects, prompting temporary shutdowns in cities various European cities.
Lithuania has seen the most Belarusian balloons fly into the country's airspace, forcing the country to declare a state of emergency over the practice in December.
Officials in Vilnius have long attributed many of these incidents to weather balloons used by smugglers to ferry illicit cigarettes across the border from Belarus. The Lithuanian government accuses Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko of deliberately allowing — and effectively weaponizing — the practice, describing it as part of a wider "hybrid attack" on the Baltic state.
"This incident represents another in a series of hybrid-type events observed in the eastern region of Poland," the Polish Operational Command said in a statement.
The Polish Air Force said no threats to public safety were observed amid the incident.
In response to western accusations of the balloon incursions, Lukashenko has accused Western countries of waging a hybrid war against Belarus and Russia, its closest ally.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Dec. 1 that the European Union is preparing additional sanctions against Lukashenko in response to what Brussels describes as a "hybrid" campaign targeting Lithuania.
