Poland's right-wing conservative president, Karol Nawrocki, and the liberal head of its center-left government, Donald Tusk, don't usually pass up any opportunities to trade criticisms and take sideswipes at each other.

On Wednesday, however, the two divided leaders made every effort to demonstrate restraint and avoided all gibes.

"We — the president, myself and my ministers — are absolutely determined to act like one fist, without differences of opinion," Tusk told the Sejm, the parliament of Poland.

"We must pass this test in unity. There can be no gap into which the enemy, our eastern neighbor, can put its paws," he stressed.

Instead of the usual scornful heckling from the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, there was applause when Tusk emphasized the unity of both political camps in the face of the threat against the country, saying "When the Poles act in unity, they are unbeatable."

Cooperation instead of confrontation

Late on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, a total of 19 Russian drones entered Polish airspace. Many of the drones originated in Belarus — the first time this has happened.

The drone incursion has forced both political camps, which are otherwise at loggerheads with each other, to cooperate to face the threat from the East. 

Nawrocki and Tusk met twice after the incursion on Wednesday morning to discuss how to respond to the massive breach of Polish airspace.

"We have agreed to fully coordinate all further steps on the international stage," said the prime minister. Nawrocki also highlighted the good cooperation with Tusk.

Slawomir Cenckiewicz, head of the Polish National Security Council (BNN) and a close ally of President Nawrocki, even spoke of the "exemplary cooperation" between the president's office and the government.

According to the Polish Constitution, the president is the supreme commander of the country's armed forces and plays an important role in security matters.

Three drones shot down

Of the 19 drones that entered Polish airspace, Poland's military leaders decided to shoot down at least three that they felt posed a significant threat.

Polish F-16 and Dutch F-35 fighter jets were scrambled. It is also reported that Italian and German soldiers were involved in the response.

Drone fragments were discovered in a number of places across the country.

Several of the drones flew as far as the area around Lodz in central Poland, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from Poland's eastern border.

Damage but no casualties

Parts of one drone destroyed the roof of a family home in the village of Wyryki near Lublin in the east of the country. No one was injured.

"The drones were not carrying explosives," said government spokesperson Adam Szlapka on Thursday.

President Nawrocki referred to the violation of the country's airspace as "an unprecedented moment in the history of NATO and the recent history of Poland."

"This was the first time enemy Russian drones were shot down over NATO territory," added Prime Minister Tusk.

The president and the prime minister agreed to invoke Article 4 of the NATO treaty, thereby requesting formal consultations with the members of the alliance.

Tusk: 'Words of solidarity are not enough'

Tusk used the incident to make a dramatic appeal to the country's allies, saying that while Poland was grateful for all words of solidarity, such words were not enough.

"We expect much more support," he said, adding that the war in Ukraine is not a Polish or Ukrainian matter, but a "confrontation that Russia has declared on the whole free world."

Poland spends 4.7% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense and hopes to benefit greatly from the European Union's joint defense instrument SAFE.

"Neither Poland nor NATO will be intimidated," said Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski. "Russia must finally understand that the attempt to rebuild the old empire is doomed to failure."

Poland completely closed its border with Belarus on Thursday. Joint military exercises known as "Zapad 2025" (West 2025) are due to begin in Belarus and Russia on Friday.

Warsaw anticipates more provocations.

Russian campaign of disinformation

Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski issued a warning about Russian and Belarusian disinformation campaigns.

"The amount of fake news on the internet is constantly growing," said the left-wing politician. "Russia and Belarus are behind this organized campaign."

Gawkowski went on to say that the objective of this campaign is to shift responsibility for the drone incursion onto Ukraine in order to drive a wedge between Poland and Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia in February 2022.

Poland relies on the US

When it comes to security, Poland relies primarily on its alliance with the United States.

US President Donald Trump assured President Nawrocki when the two leaders met in the White House earlier this month that he was not planning to withdraw American soldiers from Poland.

For this reason, Warsaw was impatient to know how Washington would respond to the drone incursion.

Nawrocki spoke to Trump by phone on Wednesday evening.

"The conversation was one part of a series of consultations I have had with our allies," he later wrote on X. "Today's conversations have confirmed the unity of our allies."

'Poland's enemies are in the East not the West'

Despite the show of unity in Warsaw, Tusk took the opportunity offered by his address to parliament to urge the national conservative opposition not to engage in Germany-bashing.

"Poland's political enemy, who makes no bones of its hostile intent, is beyond our eastern, not our western border," said the prime minister, who has often been labeled a "German agent" by PiS.

"Don't look for an enemy in the West," he said. "The real enemy in the East is enough."

Two German Patriot missile batteries in eastern Poland were also involved in the repulsion of the Russian drones.

"After the incursion of Russian drones into Poland, NATO must not take a single step back," wrote Bartosz Wielinski in the daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza on Thursday.

"The alliance's demonstration of strength and unity must be massive and sustained. The European states of NATO can manage this even without the support of the US," he said.

This article was originally published in German.