NATO Launches ’Eastern Sentry’ Operation Following Polish Airspace Incident – 09/12/2025
Following a recent incursion of Russian drones into Polish airspace during an attack on Ukraine, NATO has initiated Operation ‘Eastern Sentry’ to bolster air defenses along its eastern flank. The incident,which occurred overnight into Wednesday,prompted Poland to scramble jets and shoot down the drones.
The event has been accompanied by a surge of disinformation, according to Polish officials, with Russia claiming Poland is fabricating reports to escalate the Ukrainian crisis. Pro-Kremlin media and military bloggers have further fueled the narrative by denying evidence of the downed drones.
DW Fact Check investigated circulating social media content and identified a widely shared TikTok video falsely claiming to show Polish NATO jets destroying a record number of Shahed drones. the video, captioned “5 Minutes ago! Polish NATO Jets destroy record number of Shahed drones,” was determined to feature footage from the video game Àrma 3, often used to simulate combat scenarios.
Operation ‘Eastern Sentry’ aims to counter such disinformation and reinforce NATO’s commitment to collective defense. Further details on the operation’s scope and duration are expected in the coming days.
For a extensive fact-check of the disinformation surrounding the drone incident, see: https://www.dw.com/en/russian-drone-downing-poland-airspace-disinformation-fake-news-nato/a-73952818
