The alert about the threat of a drone attack was not sent to residents at risk during the night, but only in the morning, by a conscious decision of the services. The Polish Press Agency was supposed to inform about the situation, having received information from the military, the RCB spokesperson told the portal Niezależna.pl. PAP reported the drone attack only at 3:59 a.m., whereas the attack began at 11:30 p.m.
In total, the services recorded at least 20 incursions into Poland’s airspace. The first violation of Polish airspace was recorded at around 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, and the last at around 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday. “This operation lasted the entire night,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in the Sejm on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, according to information reaching Niezalezna.pl from residents of the Lublin, Podkarpacie, and Podlasie regions, text messages from the Government Security Center (RCB) began arriving a dozen or so minutes after 8:00 a.m.—that is, when the greatest danger had passed.
“Attention! In connection with the operation to neutralize objects that violated the borders of the Republic of Poland, inform the services about drones or places where they have fallen. Stay calm,” one of the messages stated.
The post on the RCB’s social-media profile did not appear until around 7:00 a.m.
A conscious decision
Why did residents in the areas most threatened by a drone attack not receive earlier warnings about the danger? That is one of today’s most important questions. We asked the RCB’s spokesperson. The answer was surprising.
“Indeed, the RCB alert was activated this morning in connection with the nighttime threats. It concerned supporting the services’ activities in searching for drones shot down by the military and an indication not to approach drones. As for that communication channel—the military sent information to PAP (the Polish Press Agency) during the night; I don’t recall the exact time, about the ongoing situation. PAP distributed this information further. It was decided that this form of communication, given the situation and the nighttime hours, would be the most reasonable. On behalf of the RCB, we sent this alert in a supporting capacity in the context of the drones,” RCB press spokesman Piotr Błaszczyk told Niezależna.pl. He added that the RCB’s communication activities were “supporting,” alongside the military’s “coordinating” actions.
“As far as communication is concerned, the military acted in a coordinating role, sent information to PAP; we—supportively in the morning—[acted] in the scope of the searches,” Błaszczyk said.
Ministry of the Interior and Administration: we did not want panic
During a press conference around 12:00 p.m., the spokeswoman for the Ministry of the Interior and Administration, Karolina Gałecka, offered even more astonishing explanations.
“The decision to send a message to residents would be made in a situation where there was a threat to life and health. Imagine the RCB sending a message to residents at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. Have you considered what the reaction of half of society might be, when there was no need to flee, evacuate, or leave the house? I think such a message would cause complete panic among some residents and an overreaction driven by emotion,” she replied to one of the journalists.
Let us recall that one drone fell on a residential building. A well-worded message sent on time would not have caused panic…”