Zygmunt Spychała, Vice President of the Management Board of Grupa Niewiadów-PGM S.A., spoke on the “Punkt Widzenia” program about the recent incident involving Russian drones violating Polish airspace. We invite you to watch the segment or read the transcript we have prepared.
Video footage
Transcript of the conversation
Host: Piotr Krawczyk, Welcome to“Point of View.”On the night of Tuesday into Wednesday, nineteen Russian drones violated the airspace of the Republic of Poland, and my guest on the program “Point of View” is Reserve Colonel Zygmunt Spychała, Vice President of the Niewiadów Group at Polska Grupa Militarna S.A. A warm welcome to you, Colonel.
CEO Zygmunt Spychała: Good morning, Mr. Editor. Good morning, everyone.
Moderator: Colonel, have we passed the readiness test—in every aspect, whether military, civic, or in terms of resilience against attacks by Russian trolls and Russian propaganda?
Chairman Zygmunt Spychała: From a military standpoint , certainly 100 percent, because our forces acted effectively, immediately engaging enemy targets that appeared over Poland; from a civilian standpoint as well, However, in terms of countering disinformation, it was a major success; we’re not entirely sure how things played out on the ground, especially since there were reports of certain groups being activated—and at the very moment the drones struck, they appeared with their own signals; it seemed synchronized, so it’s clear that this disinformation had been prepared in advance.
Moderator: Have our NATO partners provided us with support commensurate with the threat?
Chairman Zygmunt Spychała: In terms of support, absolutely—primarily because the Dutch Air Force was deployed here, which, as part of NATO’s air policing mission in a border country like Poland, operates continuously, particularly the Dutch F-15s and F-35s, which have significant capabilities to counter enemy drones due to their specific design and radar capabilities. NATO’s support was also substantial, and we owe them our gratitude. Meanwhile, our early warning system also performed at the highest level.
Host: But we want to feel safer. Tomasz Siemoniak, coordinator of the special services, said that it is necessary to redeploy NATO troops to Polish territory. Is this really the moment when NATO allies should take a firmer stance in their relations with Russia?
Chairman Zygmunt Spychała: Any increase in allied forces in a frontline country is always a positive development. And in this regard, we should have some additional reinforcements in terms of troop numbers. I don’t want to dwell on this, because it’s a matter of debate.
Host: And what about aviation?
Chairman Zygmunt Spychała: On the subject of aviation, I’d like to wrap up the issue of the troops themselves. I think Minister Siemoniak was referring to the stationary nature of the forces’ operations, particularly the American ones, rather than a rotational one. Because a stationary presence gives us the certainty and guarantee that the families of American soldiers are here, since they are our primary concern. All the units from other countries operating in Europe have much greater mobility and can relocate. But we also have Dutch and German units. Previously, when there were anti-aircraft units, Patriots, and so on, there were various types of assets for countering attacks and units from different countries.
Host: Following the news that broke late Tuesday into Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump posted on social media, and his comments have been interpreted in various ways. I’ve translated it, so here we go. Other media outlets have translated Donald Trump’s words as “let’s get started.” How should this be understood literally?
Chairman Zygmunt Spychała: Well , however you look at it, it seems to me that Trump wanted to send the message that the time for dithering and hesitation is over. We’re moving on to concrete steps and action; what came before must be left behind, and we need to get down to real military action—and, of course, to countering all these threats.
Moderator: Colonel , why has NATO’s process of deluding itself about Russia—about any semblance of democratization in that country—gone on for so long? Why has NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, shown such excessive patience in its relations with Russia? What is the reason for this?
Chairman Zygmunt Spychała: This suggests that Europe and all elements of NATO’s structures sought to establish relations and dialogue with Moscow, hoping that these conditions would be eased and that Russia would be drawn into the peace process. There had also been earlier attempts; NATO-Russia structures were created, where even Russia had its own committee within the armed forces at SHAPE, a NATO structure, with the aim of curbing its ambitions to conquer other countries and calming the situation. This was also linked to the fact that everyone hoped that a war like the one that had once been—that is, after World War II—would never happen again. And these plans were geared toward that goal.
Host: In terms of military capabilities, is Poland currently—as some people, including experts but perhaps mainly politicians, claim—ready to repel any attacks from Russia, not just drone attacks but attacks involving conventional munitions?
CEO Zygmunt Spychała: We are constantly building the capabilities we need. Here, too, as Vice President of the Niewiadów Group—which has a tradition spanning over a century of developing capabilities in ammunition and TNT—we are actively involved in the preparation process and are building a 155-millimeter ammunition factory.
Host: The most needed…
CEO Zygmunt Spychała: This is what is most needed, but even before the conflict that broke out yesterday, we had already begun production of drones and preparations for the production of drones and anti-drone systems. As part of our cooperation with companies outside our country—which are already part of our cooperation network through signed MOUs—we have opportunities to develop countermeasures against drone attacks. In this regard, we have also been testing, together with our partner companies, other methods of countering drones, for example, using fewer resources, because we are aware that the measures used during the attack were quite powerful. Here, the measures may be of lesser significance, but they are equally effective, and ultimately we will have to think about this, because I’m keeping my fingers crossed—indeed, our country’s armament is extremely important.
Host: Things have varied in recent years and decades. Finally, regarding the Belarusian-Russian military exercises beginning this Friday just across our eastern border, should we expect further provocations from the Russians, especially in the Suwałki Gap?
CEO Zygmunt Spychała: Well , the Russians are known for being capable of launching a provocation at any moment. Personally, I don’t think they will, unless they’re testing a different scenario, because when they practice a breakthrough, we’re practicing “Iron Defender” on our side, and there could be some exchanges of unkind words that might cause something to happen, but personally I wouldn’t count on it, because I think they’ve already achieved their goal by spreading disinformation with their suicide drones and other drones they sent into our territory.
Host: Ladies and gentlemen, General Wiesław Kukuła, Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, said that on the night of Tuesday into Wednesday, Polish and Dutch pilots destroyed virtually everything that posed a threat to Polish citizens. I hope that Polish and Dutch pilots will have to take to the skies as rarely as possible in such situations. Our other guest on the program “Point of View” was Reserve Colonel Zygmunt Spychała, Vice President of the Niewiadów Group at Polska Grupa Militarna S.A. Thank you very much, thank you very much. See you soon.