Russian drone strikes near Ukraine-Poland border crossing in Volyn Oblast

A Russian drone struck near the Yahodyn border crossing in Ukraine's Volyn Oblast, several hundred meters from the Polish border, Ukrainian and Polish officials said on Sept. 28.

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said the drone struck Ukrainian territory about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Dorohusk crossing and did not enter Polish airspace.

"Another Russian attack on western Ukraine," Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote on X. "There was no violation of Polish airspace. Our air defense systems and aircraft were ready for action."

Sources in Ukraine's State Border Guard Service told Ukrainska Pravda that the Russian attack drone struck several hundred meters from the border and did not damage the Yahodyn crossing itself.

Ukrainian monitoring channels reported Russian drones moving toward the Yahodyn border crossing during the afternoon of Sept. 28.

The strike follows a series of recent Russian attacks near the Polish border. On Sept. 17, a Russian drone came down near a gas station in Yahodyn.

Four days earlier, on Sept. 13, a Russian drone hit a truck about 800 meters (0.5 miles) from the Polish border near the same crossing. Russian forces also struck the locomotive of a passenger train traveling to Warsaw that day.

Incursions by Russian munitions into Polish airspace have also become increasingly frequent as Russia's war in Ukraine continues, prompting Poland to scramble military aircraft during attacks on western Ukraine.

Poland will change procedures for military aircraft and helicopters that engage objects entering from the direction of Russia, Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk said on Sept. 28.

Under the current peacetime procedure, Polish pilots must fly close enough to visually confirm a target in Polish airspace before firing at it.

The new procedures will replace this visual identification with so-called positive identification, meaning the radar reading alone will be enough for the pilot or the operational commander to authorize shooting down the object, Polish broadcaster RMF24 reported.