A fire broke out overnight at a Polish plant producing drone components for Ukraine, and authorities are searching for a person seen on surveillance cameras near the site shortly before the blaze.
The fire at the WB Electronics facility in Skarżysko-Kamienna started on the night of August 31, according to Onet. Flames engulfed a production and warehouse building, but the plant was not operating at the time, so no one was injured. Firefighters extinguished the blaze within two hours.
Shortly before the fire, outdoor surveillance cameras recorded a person in a balaclava who allegedly entered the premises through a fence, RBC-Ukraine reported. A backpack and a hooded sweatshirt were found abandoned near the plant. Poland's Internal Security Agency (ABW) has joined the investigation and has not ruled out arson.
WB Electronics is part of WB Group, Poland's largest private defense company and a supplier to the Polish army. The plant that caught fire produces composite structures and control systems for drones, as well as components for combat drones, dpa reported. The company's products include FlyEye and FT-5 reconnaissance drones, and Warmate and Gladius strike drones. WB Group has a subsidiary in Ukraine that supplies the Ukrainian military with UAVs, loitering munitions, and communication systems.
This is the fifth incident in a month at European enterprises linked to arms supplies to Ukraine. On August 10, a fire occurred at EMCO in Bulgaria; on August 13, an explosion hit the KNDS Ammo Italy plant near Rome; on August 15, a building of the military robotics manufacturer Milrem Robotics was set on fire in Tallinn. On August 28, an attempted arson at a plant of the Ukrainian drone maker Skyeton was prevented in Slovakia.
Sources in Western intelligence told The Telegraph that Russia has launched a new wave of attacks on European defense plants to test NATO's readiness to respond to such strikes. According to them, Moscow recruits members of local gangs, mainly via messaging apps, and pays them in cryptocurrency for sabotage.