Polish fighter jets intercepted a Russian Ilyushin Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft approximately 30 km north of Leba, Poland, before noon local time on 31 August 2026, according to Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz. "Before noon, 30 kilometres north of Leba, our fighter jets intercepted a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft. There was no violation of our airspace over the Baltic Sea," Kosiniak-Kamysz said. The aircraft was intercepted and escorted in international airspace without entering Polish territory.
The Il-20 was mapping Poland's air-defence response again
The Ilyushin Il-20, NATO reporting name Coot-A, is Russia's primary electronic intelligence (ELINT) aircraft for the western theatre, built on the Il-18 turboprop airframe and fitted with side-looking radar, optical and infrared sensors, and multiple collection antennae, per UNITED24 Media. It flies parallel to NATO coastlines at high altitude, recording the radar emission signatures and radio traffic that NATO's own air-defence systems generate the moment they respond to it. The Polish Armed Forces said Russia was "once again testing the readiness of Poland's deterrence and air defence systems," per Militarnyi.
This is at least the ninth Russian-aircraft intercept over the Baltic Sea by Polish jets in 2026
Militarnyi's tally, drawn from Polish military statements through the year, counts the 31 August intercept as the ninth time in 2026 that Polish fighters have intercepted a Russian military aircraft over the Baltic Sea. This stretch of the Baltic Sea has seen an intercept nearly every month: a Russian Il-20 on 13 March, two more Il-20 approaches on 8 and 9 April, two Su-30 fighters on 24 April, another Il-20 on 13 May, and a three-intercept run across 14 to 16 July that AirVeto has separately reconstructed, an Il-20 approximately 30 km north of Ustka on 14 July, two Su-30SM2 fighters from Kaliningrad on 15 July, and a same-day Su-30 and Il-20 double intercept on 16 July. Leba and Ustka sit roughly 50 km apart on the same stretch of Polish coastline, by AirVeto's own measurement between the two towns.
Wind conditions over the Baltic Sea north of Leba
At 08:00 UTC on 31 August, within the intercept window, the 3,000 m layer over the Baltic Sea north of Leba showed SW wind at 31.3 km/h. At 2,000 m the wind held WSW at 32.9 km/h, a broadly consistent flow through the intercept altitude. This reconstruction is based on reporting by UNITED24 Media, Militarnyi, and LRT, and on AirVeto's wind-model data for the 08:00-10:00 UTC window on 31 August 2026. AirVeto's model and its documented limits are on the methodology page.
The full archive of military airspace incidents and intercepts over Polish territory is at Dron nad Polska.