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Drone blast in Poland and a night of strikes
Summary
A retrospective on 20 August 2025, when a Russian drone exploded in eastern Poland after heavy attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure.
What happened on 20 August 2025 when a Russian military drone came down inside Poland? Shortly after midnight, the drone exploded after crashing in Osiny, in Puławy County, Poland.
The incident followed a heavy Russian assault on Ukraine the day before. On 19 August 2025, Russian forces launched 270 drones and ten missiles at critical infrastructure in Poltava and Chernihiv Oblasts.
Deadly strikes on 18 August
The preceding days had also brought civilian casualties. On 18 August 2025, Russian missile strikes killed at least seven people in Kharkiv and three in Zaporizhzhia.
Pressure on the Druzhba pipeline
The war was also being fought on Russian territory. On 18 August 2025, Russian oil deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia were suspended after a Ukrainian drone attack on the Druzhba pipeline in Bryansk Oblast, Russia. Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó confirmed the suspension.
A widening picture
Taken together, the reports from 18 to 20 August 2025 showed several strands of the war running at once: large-scale Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, deadly strikes on cities, a Ukrainian drone attack that interrupted oil flows to two European countries, and a Russian drone exploding on Polish soil.
