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Mystery Drone Explodes in Poland, Just Miles From Warsaw—Russian Shahed Suspected
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![Photo of Vlad Litnarovych]( "Photo of Vlad Litnarovych")
An unidentified drone crashed and exploded in a cornfield in eastern Poland overnight, raising new concerns about spillover from Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, Polish media Rzeczpospolita reported on August 20.
The blast occurred around midnight in the village of Osiny, about 60 miles (100 km) from the Ukrainian border and only 25 miles (40 km) from Warsaw.
Osiny, lubelszczyzna, ok. 100 km od granicy z Ukrainą. Policja odnalazła nadpalone, metalowe i plastikowe szczątki. https://t.co/tdwN6vQ0cq pic.twitter.com/zz3D7Wmi2V
— 1 Star (@PawelSokala) August 20, 2025
Police confirmed that debris was scattered across the field.
“On the cornfield we found burned fragments of various sizes scattered across several dozen meters. These were remnants of charred metal and plastic,” said Senior Sergeant Marcin Józwik of the Polish police.
Although the Polish Armed Forces’ Operational Command stated that radar systems recorded no violations of Polish airspace “neither from Ukraine nor Belarus,” Rzeczpospolita reported—citing unnamed sources—that the wreckage was consistent with a Shahed-131 or Shahed-136 attack drone, the Iranian-designed suicide drones Russia has routinely used in its strikes on Ukraine.
The explosion was powerful enough to shatter windows in a nearby farm building, though no casualties were reported. Officials said remnants at the site included metal scraps, plastic fragments, and part of a propeller. Military personnel were also deployed to examine the crater left by the blast.
Local authorities convened an emergency meeting to determine whether the destroyed object was indeed a military drone. For now, officials have referred to it only as an “unidentified aerial object.”
The ambiguity echoes earlier incidents. In May 2023, a Russian Kh-55 cruise missile carrying a dummy nuclear warhead crashed near Bydgoszcz, more than 280 miles inside Poland.
Initially, the Polish military denied any airspace breach before later admitting the violation, sparking public outrage.
Romania has also faced similar denials despite repeated Shahed drone fragments landing on its territory.
The timing of the Osiny incident coincides with Russia’s latest wave of overnight long-range attacks against Ukrainian cities using Shahed drones.
Whether one of those drones strayed across Polish airspace—and how it evaded radar detection—remains at the center of Poland’s investigation.
Earlier, a drone that entered Lithuanian airspace from Belarus was found at a military training ground.
Preliminary assessments suggest the drone is a Russian “Gerbera"—a decoy model visually similar to Iranian-designed Shahed drones, used to deceive air defense systems.
