According to Euronews and Militarnyi, a Russian Shahed drone crashed in the early hours of 20 August 2025 (23:45 UTC on 19 August) in Osiny village, Łuków County, Lublin Voivodeship, central-eastern Poland. Forensic examination confirmed the drone's powerplant included a Chinese-manufactured MD550 engine - part of the documented supply chain enabling Russian UAV production despite sanctions. The drone flew over Polish territory for approximately 2.5 hours undetected before crashing. Poland's government initially denied that any airspace violation had occurred, before equivocating as forensic evidence became public.
Associative image. This image is not from the incident described. It shows a military-type UAV of the kind found in field recovery operations.
2.5 hours undetected - a systemic gap in southeastern Poland radar coverage
The 2.5-hour detection gap is the most operationally significant detail of the Osiny crash. A drone launched from Russian-controlled Ukrainian territory (the Zaporizhzhia or Donetsk axis) on a northwestern heading toward the Lublin plain would cross the Polish border and fly for roughly 200 km at Shahed cruise speed (~185 km/h) before reaching Hrubieszów County - a plausible 1–1.5 hour flight from the border zone. The additional time in the estimate (totalling ~2.5 hours) suggests the flight path entered Polish airspace at a point south or east of where radar coverage was dense.
Polish military radar at the time was primarily oriented toward the low-altitude airspace along the Ukrainian border. The Shahed's radar cross-section - small and made of composite materials - and its low cruise altitude (~50–200 m) allowed it to fly below or within the noise floor of search radars not specifically configured for low, slow targets.
Chinese MD550 engine - sanctions-evasion evidence in Polish soil
The confirmation of a Chinese MD550 engine in the Osiny wreckage added Poland to the list of NATO countries where forensic evidence of China's indirect contribution to Russian UAV production had been recovered. The MD550 is a Chinese-manufactured four-stroke engine used to power the Shahed-136/131 series; its presence in drones crashing in NATO territory has been documented in Ukraine and Romania. The Polish forensic find was reported by Militarnyi based on examination of the crash site debris.
Poland initially denied the violation
The Polish government's initial denial that a violation had occurred - before it was forced to equivocate by forensic reporting - follows a pattern seen in earlier NATO-member Shahed landings. The political cost of admitting that a Russian attack drone flew undetected for 2.5 hours over Polish territory was significant. The denial lasted approximately two days before Polish authorities acknowledged the crash.
Wind layer - 900 hPa over southeastern Poland on 19–20 August
AirVeto's wind reconstruction covers the 900 hPa pressure level (approximately 1,000 m) over southeastern Poland during the 19–20 August 2025 overnight window. The embed above renders the wind field; methodology is described on the AirVeto methodology page.
AirVeto's account of this incident is based on reporting by Euronews, Militarnyi, and Defence Express, and on wind-model data from the Open-Meteo Historical Forecast API for the 19–20 August 2025 overnight window.
Polish airspace incident archive
- Warsaw Belweder drone, 15 September 2025 - Poland
- Poland Christmas recon intercept, 25 December 2025
- Przasnysz EW base drone, 28 January 2026 - Poland
- Podlaskie balloon incursion, January–February 2026 - Poland
The full record of drone and airspace incidents over Polish territory is collected at Dron nad Polską.