AFP, Warsaw

Poland yesterday said it would restrict air traffic in the eastern part of the country, a day after it shot down reported Russian drones over its territory.

Air traffic along Poland’s border with Belarus and Ukraine will be closed to civilian flights up to an altitude of three kilometres (1.9 miles) until December 9, the PAZP air traffic control agency said in a statement.

The restrictions “do not concern civilian aviation” flying above three kilometres, it said.

The restriction zone reaches between 26 and 46 kilometres inside Polish territory, it said.

All drones in the restricted area are banned “day and night”, it said. The measures were “being put in place to assure national security”, it said.

Poland said it had called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss violations of its airspace.

The incident was “an attempt to test the mechanism of action within Nato and our readiness to respond”, Polish President Karol Nawrocki said yesterday during a visit to an airbase in western Poland.

Polish authorities said on Wednesday that the Nato and EU member’s airspace was violated 19 times on Wednesday, with at least three drones shot down as Poland and Nato allies scrambled jets.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday urged Kyiv’s allies to rethink their own air defence capabilities after incursions into Polish airspace by drones that Warsaw said were Russian.