An elderly Polish couple have issued a heartbreaking plea after their home was destroyed by a Russian drone.
On Wednesday morning, Tomasz and Alicja Wesolowska’s home in the village of Wyryki-Wola in eastern Poland was hit after a drone smashed through a top floor window of their house.
Mr Wesolowska was downstairs in the two-storey home when the drone struck at 6.30am, which destroyed the roof, severely damaged a bedroom and left debris strewn across the garden.
The pensioner had been watching a news broadcast on the television about an incursion of Russian drones into Poland’s sovereign airspace at the time.
Tomasz and Alicja Wesolowska’s home in the village of Wyryki-Wola in eastern Poland was hit after a drone smashed through a top floor window
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REUTERS
He said: “I turned on the TV, and all the news was about this massive drone flight, and after a while, I heard a plane flying over… and suddenly something boomed, the light fell from the ceiling in the downstairs living room.
“I ran out into the yard, and I saw the whole roof in shreds, everything was destroyed.”
Mrs Wesolowska said she rushed outside to get a glimpse of the plane after hearing it flying above the house, fearing that they may come under fire.
Polish authorities confirmed twelve drones and debris from a rocket had been located in different areas of the country in the aftermath of the incursion.
Mrs Wesolowska said she rushed outside to get a glimpse of the plane after hearing it flying above the house
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GETTY
The commotion also alerted the couple’s neighbour, Urszula Zaprzaluk.
She said: “Suddenly I heard what sounded like an explosion. I jumped up, my legs were shaking… I went out to the balcony.
“I saw through the trees that my neighbour’s roof was missing.
“I am simply scared of this war [in Ukraine].”
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The drone destroyed the roof, severely damaged a bedroom and left debris strewn across the garden
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GETTY
Ms Zaprzaluk said she was told stories of the devastation inflicted upon Poland during the Second World War by her mother, adding “it’s better if it doesn’t come to us”.
Her home had also been damaged by the downed drone with her chimney and tiles left shattered, alongside a smashed window.
In the aftermath of the Russian drone infiltration, Nato Secretary General Marke Rutte warned it was “not an isolated incident”, before affirming the organisation was “resolved to defend every inch of allied territory”.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that a total of 19 Russian drones had entered the country’s airspace in the incident, which took the nation to its “closest” point of being embroiled in a “conflict since WWII”.
The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the incident and have suggested the drones were of Ukrainian origin.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Western leaders to take decisive action in response to the incursion, saying: “[It is an] extremely dangerous precedent for Europe.
“A strong response is needed and it can only be a joint response by all partners: Ukraine, Poland, all Europeans, the United States.”
Mr Rutte confirmed that Nato’s Security Council convened on Wednesday morning to discuss Poland’s request for Article 4.
