Poland has formally invoked Article 4 of the NATO treaty after multiple Russian drones violated its airspace during a massive overnight aerial attack on Ukraine that spilled over into Polish territory late Tuesday into Wednesday morning.
The Polish government classified the incident as a serious security threat and provocation, but stopped short of labeling it a full-scale armed attack. By invoking Article 4 rather than Article 5, Warsaw sought urgent consultations with its NATO allies while deliberately avoiding a path that could obligate the alliance to immediate military action against Russia.
Article 4 allows NATO members to request discussions when they believe their territorial integrity, political independence, or security is under threat. Article 5, by contrast, is the alliance’s collective defense clause—any armed attack on one member is considered an attack on all. Invoking Article 5 would have risked triggering a direct NATO-Russia conflict, a scenario leaders across the alliance have been reluctant to enter despite growing tensions over the war in Ukraine.
The decision underscores Poland’s—and by extension NATO’s—caution in calibrating its response to provocations along its eastern flank. Despite years of strong rhetoric against Moscow, Warsaw’s measured approach reflects hesitancy to escalate toward open war.
The episode has also revived past controversies. Former Polish President Andrzej Duda recently accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of attempting to provoke NATO into a broader conflict during the November 2022 Przewodów incident. That incident occurred when a missile struck the Polish border village of Przewodów, killing two civilians. While early reports blamed Russia, investigations later revealed it was a Ukrainian air-defense missile.
According to Duda, Zelensky personally called him immediately afterward, urging him to declare the missile Russian-made without waiting for evidence. Duda alleged the push was a deliberate effort to drag NATO into the war. “From the very beginning, they tried to draw everyone into the war—it continued from the first day… Zelensky’s dream is a NATO-Russia war,” Duda said, explaining why he refused to escalate.