At night from Tuesday to Wednesday, the presence of Russian drones was noted in the Polish airspace. Almost immediately, a disinformation campaign, aimed at Ukraine and Polish society, started. The fugitive of these events is not accidental. This is a classic example of a hybrid war that Russia has been conducting against the West for years, and especially to border countries, such as Poland.
What is a hybrid war?
First, let’s start by explaining what the hybrid war is. This is a form of conflict that combines military, cybernetic, economic, information and psychological activities. The goal is not physical (kinetic) to defeat the opponent on the battlefield, but to undermine his political stability, weaken trust in state institutions, break up international alliances and manipulate public opinion.
The means of hybrid war include, among others Sabotage, border provocations, disinformation campaigns (fake news, spreading conspiracy theories, social media manipulations), cyber attacks (e.g. on critical infrastructure, administration systems or banking), political and economic pressure (energy blackmail), intelligence and diversion.
As you can see, the opponent often acts “below the war threshold” – he does not say the conflict to the rival, and his actions are difficult to clearly attribute, which hinders the reaction of the international community. So we are dealing with a “strange war” – aggressive influence on the other state, but without the use of the army. In the context of Russia’s relationship with NATO, this is particularly important, because it hinders the use of alliance troops in defense of the attacked Alliance.
Hybrid war in the context of Ukraine
Russia’s aggression to Ukraine, which has been going on since 2014 (annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas), followed by a full -scale invasion, started in 2022, is an example of the use of all the tools of the hybrid war. In addition to the bombing and actions of the Land Forces, Moscow conducts mass disinformation campaigns, trying to break up the unity of the West. It also affects Poland.
Drones that violated our airspace from Tuesday to Wednesday night are not just a recognition tool. Their presence also has a psychological and propaganda dimension – it shows that Russia is testing the boundaries of the patience of the alliance and sends the signal: “We can act with impunity”! In addition, she checks how Warsaw and its allies react to such attacks: what percentage of drones are able to knock down what systems and weapons use for this purpose.
Sending drones is, however, an explicit provocation. Internet trolls started following the flying machines. And these attack us with a much more cynical way.
Poland as the goal of the Russian hybrid war
Poland plays a key role in the support system for Ukraine – most of the transports of weapons and humanitarian aid go through our territory. This makes us one of the main goals of Russian hybrid operations.
Russia uses against Poland, among others Disinformation narratives (e.g. about the fact that Ukraine wants to include us in the war), military provocations (drones or rockets in Polish space), instrumentalization of migration (crisis on the border with Belarus), cyber attacks or other initiatives of this type below the war threshold.
We saw the information war especially on Wednesday, September 10. Social media was flooded with disinformation.
Disinformation of Russian trolls
Russia’s actions in the network regarding sowing panic and generating reluctance to Ukraine. You could, for example, come across posts, which the author suggested that the drones that were found in Poland had too little possibilities about the reach to come to us from Russia. They were supposed to be sent from Ukraine’s territories and provoke Warsaw to join the war with Moscow.
Some youtubers and publicists picked up this narrative. Probably not even bad intentions, I will add. An example would be Leszek Sykulski, an expert on geopolitics who published a video under a significant title Drone provocation over Poland. Who wants to pull the Republic of Poland into the war?.
At this point, I would like to stop for a moment and show how cynical and complex the hybrid war is. In the video below you can hear the very rational arguments of Leszek Sykulski, which actually show that it is in the interest of Ukraine to join Poland in the war with Russia. Not only that, the expert noticed that everything is happening in circumstances that suggest that it is obvious – the US seems to want to reduce help for Kiev, so the latter wants to draw Poland into the war.
I am not saying that Sykulski is a Russian agent and that he plays to one goal with Moscow. On the contrary: I believe that he has pure intentions and only wants to warn Polish elites and citizens in its own way. His narrative is also quite logical. He may even be right (although it should be presented with irrefutable evidence of the support of this thesis). Except that this is used by Russian services: their arguments can often be consistent with logic – and this is how so attractive to many. They do not mean the truth: the Kremlin wants to achieve very specific results: divide society and discourage us from Ukraine. The facts don’t count here!
At the same time, today we know the data that suggests that Russia is behind a drone action. It suggests what happened on the web almost at the same time when drones appeared in Poland. In an interview with Onet, Michał Federowicz, an internet analyst from the RES Futura collective, pointed out that it was a coordinated action:
Ok time. On 3 at night, Polish Internet was dominated by a coordinated action that divided social media. The effects are that in over 40% of comments you can see the faith that Ukraine is behind the drone attack. This is how Russia won the information war with Poland.
How to recognize disinformation?
It is also worth considering how to recognize disinformation. The simplest method is to verify news and use only proven sources of information – above all government.
Of course, besides, the simplest method is to ignore what unreliable people on the web write. For example, some accounts on X say that the house in Poland, which the Russian drone fell, was destroyed earlier during … a storm.
In addition, there are materials whose purpose is to scare that drones have caused more damage than the media say (notice: the opposite, which I gave above, which shows a multi -ctory narrative during the hybrid war). And here, however, we are dealing with a naive lie. For example, posts about the allegedly burning Zamość circulate on the network. To authenticate the message, a video was added to them. Only that it was probably not at all shot in Poland at all. Not only that, it is worth paying attention to the details: you can hear voices on the recording, but they are published by people with a strange, non -Polish accent.
The above two examples show how different goals can be achieved using a “hybrid”. A certain warning for social media recipients should also be whether the message they come across on the web is not convergent with the one that gives the country to us. And so, for example, Capt. Maciek Lisowski on Polsat News pointed to what the trolls are trying to tell us:
The argument is also raised that this impact of Ukrainian electronic defense meant that Russian systems could “go crazy” (and send machines to Poland – author’s note). The second part of the narrative, the most common is that it is absolutely not Russian equipment, but Ukrainian copies of drones and Russia has nothing to do with it. I consider both previously prepared translations to be absolutely untrue.
Both mentioned narratives coincide with what the Kremlin told. Dmitry Pieskow, spokesman for Vladimir Putin, tried to lose responsibility from Russia during a press conference:
Every day, EU and NATO leaders accuse Russia of provocations. Most often, without even trying to present any arguments.
To sum up, to recognize disinformation, you should be alert, not be gullible, verify what is on the web, and also check whether a strange message in social media is not coincided with what the Kremlin suggests.
This is just the beginning?
There are many indications that we are observing the escalation of the hybrid war with our own eyes. In the near future, in Belarus, Zapada 2025 will take place. Further disinformation campaigns may occur, e.g. about the attack of Russian troops to Poland, or subsequent drones of drones through our territory. This type of revelation should be approached calmly and sought information in government sources, not the internet.
Russian drones over Poland and the accompanying disinformation campaign are therefore no accident, but an element of the hybrid war. It is a conflict without declaring a war in which rumors, fake news and emotions are weaponing weapons, in which rockets and drones. Poland – as the main ally of the USA and Ukraine – remains in Moscow’s crosshairs, which wants to undermine our security and unity. Therefore, the biggest challenge is not only the defense of borders, but also the society’s immunity to lies and fear. Because in the hybrid war, not the one who has more tanks, but the one who can defend the truth.
