Polish Schools Convert Cloakrooms Into Shelters as Drone Incursions Continue

Schools in eastern Poland are adapting their buildings for wartime contingencies, with at least one principal converting a cloakroom into a makeshift bomb shelter.

Jarosław Wojcik, who heads a school in Dorohusk, was photographed guiding children into the repurposed space on September 24, 2026. The town sits close to Poland's eastern border, a region that has grown increasingly tense over the past year.

The precautions follow a September 11, 2025 incident in which Russian drones violated Polish airspace during an attack on Ukraine. Firefighters and territorial defence officers were deployed near Lublin after the incursion, which damaged the roof of a house in Wyryki.

That episode underscored the risks posed to NATO's eastern flank by the war in neighbouring Ukraine. While Polish authorities have not reported further violations on the same scale, schools in border communities are preparing for the possibility of renewed airspace breaches.

The conversion of ordinary school spaces into shelters reflects a broader civil-defence effort in Poland, where local institutions are being enlisted to protect civilians in the event of an attack.