Russian drone on a beach near Jarosławiec. Gerbera recovered from the Baltic by a naval survey boat

The incident was announced on X by Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence. He wrote that the military had located and recovered a drone from the Baltic near the beach at Rusinowo, that initial inspection pointed to a military unmanned aircraft originating from Russia, and that services were securing the scene and the recovered equipment.

Reported by a walker, 100-metre cordon

The find was reported by a person walking along the beach. An initial 100-metre safety zone was set up around the drone, which police wanted to extend to 300 metres, because nobody on the spot knew whether it was a training aircraft or a combat drone carrying a warhead. Alongside the police, the Border Guard, the Military Police and representatives of the Maritime Office in Słupsk arrived at the beach.

Lieutenant Colonel Jacek Goryszewski, spokesman for the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces, said the drone had been lifted from the water by a military hydrographic boat and that once the Military Police had secured the area, bomb disposal specialists would take over. Lieutenant Colonel Dariusz Rozkosz, spokesman for the Commander of the Military Police, stressed that all relevant services were on site and that the first task was to establish how safe the object was.

Gerbera, a cheap decoy of plywood and foam

The Operational Command indicated that the aircraft is most likely a Gerbera, one of the most widely used Russian drones in the war against Ukraine. It resembles the Iranian Shahed-136 in appearance but is far cheaper: the airframe is made partly of foam and plywood, allowing fast mass production. Most Gerberas are decoys intended to confuse and overload air defences, but some can carry a warhead or reconnaissance equipment. That is why every such object is treated as potentially dangerous until cleared by specialists.

Deputy Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk, asked in the Sejm, said everything pointed to Russian origin and that the drone would be handed over to the services for examination in line with procedures. Cezary Tomczyk added that in terms of hybrid and surveillance activity, Poland is today in many respects target number one.

Between the Ustka range and the Darłowo air base

From a military point of view the location is not random. Jarosławiec lies between the Central Air Force Training Range at Ustka and the naval air base at Darłowo, on a stretch of coast where exercises involving missiles and aircraft are held regularly. That is why the first reports from the beach said it was unclear whether the drone was a training or a combat aircraft.

Polish media note that this is the first time a Russian drone has been found so deep inside Polish territory, on the central coast, far from the borders with Belarus and the Kaliningrad exclave. It is not yet known when or from where the drone flew, nor whether it came down in the sea near Rusinowo or was washed ashore after a longer drift. The Morze.org portal points out that until the examination is complete there is no absolute certainty about the object's origin and that in conditions of hybrid warfare it is worth sticking to the facts.

Similar finds have been reported in recent weeks on Black Sea beaches in Romania and Bulgaria. An object washed up on a beach in Liepāja, Latvia, turned out to be an air defence training target rather than a Russian drone, a reminder of how carefully initial reports need to be treated.