A lot of disinformation is also spreading about the Russian drones shot down from the sky over Poland. Some of these posts have gone viral on the Internet. DW checked the facts.
The Polish Air Force shot down Russian drones that entered the country's airspace this week. Shortly after the incident, videos and images appeared that allegedly show the events. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote in X that Russian propaganda is a problem for Poland's security.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also claims that Poland is spreading "myths" about the entry of Russian drones into its airspace to "deepen the Ukrainian crisis".
At the same time, pro-Kremlin media and military bloggers are actively sharing disinformation about the drones, falsely claiming that there is no evidence that some of them were shot down. Some Russian media outlets are even calling the incident a "Ukrainian provocation", and the drones - "unidentified objects".
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the drones were "Shahed" - the Iranian model with which Russia constantly attacks Ukraine. This is not the first case in which a Russian "Shahed" reaches Polish territory.
DW's fact-checking team checked some of the popular footage circulating online.
Real video or video game?
Claim: A TikTok user shared several videos that he claims show Russian drones entering the skies over Poland. One of the videos is captioned: “5 minutes ago! Polish NATO planes destroy record number of "Shahed" drones." The videos look similar and have hundreds of thousands of views.
Fact-check: False
These footages are actually from the video game "Arma 3". Several users also expressed doubts in comments on social media. A reverse image search of the footage in the video leads to the profile of another YouTube user who shares the exact same video with the comment "Shots from "Arma 3". Not real!". This account regularly shares footage of war scenes from video games and is often presented by other users as showing the war in Ukraine. Footage from the game "Arma 3" has also been presented as real videos of the conflict between India and Pakistan.
Russian drone in Poland or somewhere else
Claim: A TikTok user posted a video showing a drone in the air. It is said to have been filmed in Poland on September 10, 2025. The post has been viewed by over 2.4 million people.
Fact check: False
The video does not show a Russian drone over Poland, and this is easy to establish. The video was originally filmed during the day, while the Russian drones entered Polish airspace at night. The first one was detected at around 11:30 p.m. local time, and subsequent airspace violations continued until 6:30 a.m. The entire time it was dark outside.
A reverse image search provides more information on the matter. This video has already been uploaded to the Internet many times - for example, in February of this year, when a Ukrainian website reported a Russian attack in Ukraine. It was also uploaded again in July. This video does not show this week's incident in Poland. However, its source and original location are unclear.
Where did the drones fall?
Claim: A user on X shared an image of a map showing the location where one of the drones in Mnyshkov fell. The post claims that this is one of the Russian drones that entered Polish skies. The location is nearly 300 kilometers from Poland's eastern border, where the other drones were found.
Fact check: True
According to the Polish Interior Ministry, there are at least three locations where debris from the 19 drones that entered Polish airspace fell. A drone was also found in Mniszków, far from the other locations in the eastern part of the country.
According to local authorities in the Opoczno district, an object suspected of being a foreign military drone was found in a field near Mniszków on the morning of September 10. This matches the map attached to the social media post. The photo from the X post can be found through the photo agency imago. It is the same photo that shows the drone with the military number “ëë31402” and according to imago, the object was found by authorities in Mniszków. Several media outlets published the photo.