00:00Pro-Russian Disinformation Spreads About Polish Drone Incursion
00:03After at least 19 Russian drones entered Polish airspace in early September,
00:11a pro-Russian disinformation campaign emerged online, casting doubt over what really happened.
00:16In a number of posts, users allege that it was in fact Ukraine that patched up Russian drones
00:21before deploying them to Poland.
00:23Some accounts claim this operation was carried out in cooperation between Ukraine and Poland.
00:28These claims fit into a wider conspiratorial narrative which purports that Ukraine actively wants to provoke World War III.
00:36Another online narrative alleges that the house which was destroyed in eastern Poland
00:40after being severely impacted by an object during the drone incursion was in fact hit by a storm.
00:46There is no evidence to support this storm hypothesis,
00:49and many of the accounts who have peddled this narrative relay Russian propaganda.
00:53For instance, this post is signed off with the mention FRWL, an acronym which means From Russia With Love.
01:00However, claims that the storm destroyed the house have been bolstered by conflicting media reports.
01:05Local authorities initially stated that the exact details of the incident were unclear,
01:10and that the house could have been impacted by a drone or by debris.
01:14Locals also reported citing Polish fighter jets.
01:17Speculation later intensified after a Polish newspaper reported that a Polish missile impacted the house,
01:23and that the prosecutor's office had not confirmed the cause of the house's destruction.
01:28Although it remains unclear what impacted the house,
01:31the available evidence points to the direct impact of an object and not a storm.
01:36Polish authorities have warned that Russian and Belarusian services
01:39are seeking to blame Ukraine for the airspace violation,
01:42and to discredit Polish military services as part of a disinformation drive.
01:46NATO has not stated whether Russia's drone incursion was deliberate or not,
01:50but has stipulated that regardless of this, the incident was a violation of NATO airspace.
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