January 31, Pozirk. Unidentified objects from Belarus violated Polish airspace overnight, marking the second similar incident this week, the Polish Armed Forces Operational Command reports.
An analysis of the flight parameters allowed the military to identify the objects as weather balloons, frequently used by cigarette smugglers.
Polish authorities temporarily restricted civil aviation flights in the Podlaskie voivodeship in the eastern part of the country for safety reasons.
Some 150 balloons violated Polish airspace early on January 17. Poland’s foreign ministry summoned Belarus’ chargé d’affaires to demand explanations. The most recent similar incident was reported two days ago.
In 2025, Polish border guards detected 185 cigarette-smuggling weather balloons arriving from Belarus, carrying goods worth an estimated $1.2 million.
Balloon incursions have previously caused tensions between Belarus and Lithuania. In late 2025, Vilnius declared an “extreme situation,” a low-level emergency, in response to what it described as a “hybrid attack from Belarus.”
