Poland urges citizens to 'immediately' leave Belarus

Poland's Embassy in Minsk called on Polish citizens to "immediately leave" Belarus on Sept. 25, amid rising tensions stemming from Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"In the event of a drastic deterioration in the security situation, border closures, or other unforeseen circumstances, evacuation may prove significantly more difficult or even impossible," the embassy said in a statement.

The warning comes amid rising tensions between NATO and Russia following a series of airspace violations, as well as the "repeated arbitrary arrests of Polish citizens." 

Over the past month, Russian drones have violated Polish, Romanian, and possibly Danish airspace.

On Sept. 19, Estonia accused Russia of violating its airspace with three MiG-31 fighter jets, which remained in Estonian airspace for 12 minutes. While, just today, Hungarian fighter jets intercepted five Russian aircraft over the Baltic Sea.

Bloomberg reported Sept. 25 that European diplomats warned Russian officials this week that NATO is prepared to respond to further airspace violations with force, including by shooting down Russian planes.