A Russian SU-24MR military jet flew into Polish airspace in the Gdansk bay area of the Baltic Sea on Tuesday due to what Russia said was a navigation system failure, the Operational Command of the Polish armed forces said.
The plane flew 6.5 km (4 miles) into Polish airspace and stayed there for a little over 1 minute before changing its course, Operational command said on X.
Informujemy, że w dniu 11 lutego 2025 roku o godz. 14.09 we wschodniej części Zatoki Gdańskiej doszło do naruszenia przestrzeni powietrznej nad wodami terytorialnymi RP przez samolot Su-24MR Sił Zbrojnych Federacji Rosyjskiej.
The Polish services supervising the airspace were in contact with the Russian side, which confirmed the violation of Polish airspace and reported that it occurred due to a failure of the navigation system of the aircraft, it said.
The aircraft, which took off from the Kaliningrad region, entered Polish airspace to a maximum depth of 6.5 kilometers and remained there for 1 minute and 12 seconds.
The incident occurred shortly after 2:00 PM local time in the eastern part of the Gulf of Gdańsk, as confirmed in an official statement by the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces.
“The aircraft’s flight was monitored by the radar systems of the Polish Armed Forces,” the statement emphasized. The flight path was immediately corrected following an intervention by a Russian military air traffic controller.
Polish airspace control authorities maintained communication with the Russian side, which acknowledged the airspace violation and attributed it to a failure in the aircraft’s navigation system.
“The personnel of Poland’s air defense system conduct round-the-clock monitoring of Polish airspace, remaining in constant readiness to ensure its security,” the Polish side assured in an official declaration.
Earlier on Tuesday, Polish and allied fighter jets were deployed in response to a Russian attack on western Ukraine to secure the region. The operation lasted several hours, but at that time, no violations of Polish airspace were observed.
