On the night of 31 August, a fire broke out on the premises of the defense company WB Electronics in the Polish town of Skarżysko-Kamienna, destroying warehouse facilities. According to the Polish National Prosecutor's Office, the plant was not operating at the time of the fire, so there were no casualties. WB Electronics is known for producing unmanned aerial vehicles supplied to both the Polish and Ukrainian armed forces, which immediately made the incident a subject of heightened attention for law enforcement and intelligence services. Extinguishing the fire and dealing with its aftermath took about two hours; police officers and a police dog handler were on site, and Polish intelligence services were brought in to investigate the circumstances.
Investigation's version: deliberate arson
According to the Polish National Prosecutor's Office, the investigation is considering the version of deliberate arson. In the prosecutor's view, the fire may have been caused by a planted charge containing flammable materials. The investigation is being led by a prosecutor from the Lesser Poland branch of the National Prosecutor's Office's Department for Organized Crime and Corruption. Authorities also consider the possibility that representatives of foreign intelligence may have been involved in the arson, although this version is currently under verification and is not an established fact.
What the surveillance cameras showed
Initially, law enforcement's attention was drawn to possible signs of intrusion onto the company's premises. Surveillance camera footage captured an unknown person wearing a balaclava who entered the plant over the fence. A backpack and a long-sleeved sweater were also found left near the facility. These circumstances formed the basis for the version of a deliberate act rather than an accidental fire.
Scale of the damage
As a result of the fire, the plant's warehouse facilities were destroyed. The preliminary estimate of the damage, according to law enforcement, is at least 15 million zloty, equivalent to approximately 17.9 million hryvnia. In the initial reports, the fire was described as relatively small, but the final consequences affected the company's warehouse infrastructure. Polish law enforcement continue to establish all the circumstances of the incident and to verify the deliberate arson version.
Contradictory data
There is a minor inconsistency in the available reports regarding the date of the incident: some sources state "the night of 31 August," while others refer to a fire "on the night leading into 31 August" (i.e., the transitional night from the 30th to the 31st). Both versions refer to the same nighttime incident, although the exact anchoring to a calendar night is not standardized in public statements. In addition, the initial reports described the fire as "relatively small," whereas the final damage is linked to the destruction of warehouse facilities — this reflects the development of the situation from the first minutes to the final assessment, rather than a direct contradiction in the facts. As for the involvement of foreign intelligence, this is an officially stated version of the investigation, not a confirmed conclusion.
Context: a series of incidents at EU defense enterprises
The incident in Skarżysko-Kamienna is not isolated. According to available data, on 13 August an explosion and fire occurred at an ammunition plant near Rome owned by KNDS Ammo Italy, which cooperates with Ukraine. The totality of such events forms a picture of repeated attempts at sabotage or arson at EU enterprises involved in producing weapons for Ukraine, which intensifies intelligence services' interest in each new case.
