Poland investigates drone factory arson as terrorism. No evidence yet in second fire

Poland's National Prosecutor's Office is investigating a fire at a drone components factory in Skarżysko-Kamienna as a terrorist act and simultaneously as involvement in the activities of a foreign intelligence service against Poland. The camera system captured a masked man who crossed through the fence and set fire to one of the halls; damage is at least 15 million zlotys. A day earlier, another Polish aerospace industry facility caught fire with even greater damage — and it is precisely regarding this one that the prosecutor says the cause remains unknown.

The Enterprise That Supplies Two Armies

The factory in Skarżysko-Kamienna belongs to the WB Group and manufactures unmanned systems components. The most famous are the FlyEye reconnaissance drone and Warmate loitering munition — a machine that circles above a target and then attacks it. According to an expert cited by Onet, the company ranks among the absolute top tier in Europe in terms of drone manufacturing capacity. Onet ↗

What matters is who it supplies. It is not only the Polish armed forces, but also the armed forces of Ukraine — and precisely in this significance, the factory was written about in Kyiv even before the Polish government named the fire. Kyiv Post ↗

Why Investigators Are Not Working With Coincidence

The fire broke out Monday shortly after midnight in a warehouse on Obuwnicza Street and firefighters brought it under control within two hours. The destroyed storage areas were assessed by the prosecutor's office at a minimum of 15 million zlotys, and its spokesperson Przemysław Nowak pointed out that the act under investigation carries a life sentence. No one has been charged yet. Onet ↗

The investigation is proceeding under Article 130 of the Polish Criminal Code, which punishes involvement in foreign intelligence activity against Poland, and simultaneously the act is classified as terrorist — the perpetrator allegedly placed an incendiary device at the scene. The premises therefore are not only being investigated by police, but also by the civil counterintelligence agency Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego, abbreviated ABW, and military counterintelligence SKW. TVN24 ↗

However, the most is suggested by unofficial findings of Wirtualna Polska. The recording shows one masked man, but investigators are working with the version that there were at least two. According to the newspaper's findings, they must have surveyed the terrain beforehand — knowing where to cross the fence, which warehouse to target and how security operates. According to the newspaper, this rules out coincidence and leads to the conclusion that someone gathered that information at the location beforehand. Wirtualna Polska ↗

Second Fire, Where Arson Is Not Proven

Sunday afternoon, a JFG Composites warehouse burned in Lublin. Over forty firefighters extinguished it; a warehouse covering 2,100 square meters was completely destroyed, the roof collapsed. The company manufactures aerospace composites and is a subcontractor to the Leonardo conglomerate, which owns the PZL-Świdnik helicopter manufacturer. The company preliminarily estimated damage at five million euros, or over 21 million zlotys — more than in Skarżysko. Do Rzeczy ↗

And here the two cases diverge. While in Skarżysko the government speaks of sabotage and the prosecutor conducts the matter as a terrorist act, Lublin is being cautious. "The cause of the fire is currently unknown. At this stage, it has not been established that the fire was the result of arson," said spokesperson Nowak to Wirtualna Polska. Intentional arson remains one of the investigated variants alongside technical failure, but there is no evidence for it. Investigators secured the server portion of the camera system. Onet ↗

That difference is worth remembering, because in overviews both fires quickly merge into a single sabotage narrative. Yet they are separated by evidentiary situation. In Skarżysko there is camera footage and a terrorist classification; in Lublin, even the arson itself is not confirmed.

What the Government Said

Deputy Interior Minister Czesław Mroczek confirmed on air that the perpetrator was masked, and when asked about the Russian trace, he answered that such a lead presents itself naturally. He recalled that diversions and sabotage have been occurring for years in countries supporting Ukraine, and that Poland maintains the third level of terrorist threat since the railway incident. Wirtualna Polska ↗

Prime Minister Donald Tusk went further on Tuesday, directly calling the fire sabotage and accusing Russia of dangerous escalation. It was precisely this sentence that Slovak media adopted. Aktuality.sk ↗

However, there is a difference between government terminology and legally defensible evidence, which Polish journalists do not hide. One intermediary source close to the investigation summed it up to Wirtualna Polska with an image of a duck that has feathers, a beak and swims. Conviction about who stands behind the arson and evidence defensible in court are two different things. Wirtualna Polska ↗

The Weak Point Is Organization, Not the Fence

More interesting than the Russian trace is Polish complaint about its own apparatus. According to Wirtualna Polska sources, in this case "there is jurisdictional confusion." Oversight and direction is determined by the National Prosecutor's Office, the actual investigation is led by its separate office in Kraków, evidence is collected by police and ABW, and in Kielce a separate task force was created for the matter. Four centers, three cities — and none of the institutions want to say exactly who is responsible for what.

Former ABW officer Marek Świerczek, who dealt with Russian services, also warns against shortcuts. The agency must proceed from the assumption of sabotage, according to him, but the question of who commissioned it is not as obvious as it appears. He also adds why one cannot resort to a banal explanation: it is hard to assume that someone would set a warehouse on fire out of boredom, and this is not the nineteen-nineties, but today's Poland, which lives in the immediate vicinity of war. Wirtualna Polska ↗

One thing, however, is completely lost in overviews. According to Onet, the Skarżysko factory resumed operations on Tuesday and continues to manufacture. Whoever started the fire, they did not stop production. The damage was to the warehouse, not the production line. Onet ↗

What hotinfo Is Monitoring

Charges have been brought against a specific person in connection with the arson in Skarżysko.

The investigation in Lublin has concluded on the cause of the fire and it is known whether it was arson.

Polish authorities have disclosed whether and how the security regime for defense industry plants has changed following Mroczek's announced recommendations.

It has been established who is responsible for coordination in the case, or whether the jurisdictional dispute affected the course of the investigation.

There has been another fire or act of sabotage in Polish defense industry.