Russian drones a warning to Europe

Poland killed Russian drones that entered its airspace on Wednesday, the first time that a member of NATO has been known to have shot since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

https://youtu.be/WBccDkUbGXA

Prime Minister Donald Tusk told Parliament that there had been 19 intrusions in Polish airspace overnight and that he had activated article 4 of the NATO Treaty, under which members of the Alliance may require consultations with their allies.

I have no reason to claim that we are on the verge of war, but a line has been crossed, and it is incomparably more dangerous than before, He said.

This situation brings us the closest that we have been to open conflicts since the Second World War.

Tusk said that three drones were confirmed and that it was probably a fourth had been shot.

Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, who is Minister of Defense, thanked NATO Air Command and the Royal Netherlandsh Air and Space Force to support action with F-35 fighter planes.

The Polish armed forces said Wednesday morning that a search for possible accident sites was underway and urged people not to approach, touch or move the objects they see, warning that they can constitute a threat and could contain dangerous matters.

Poland has found seven drones and parts of a missile after the intrusion of drones in Polish airspace overnight, said interior ministry spokesperson Karolina Galeck, said in a briefing.

Chopin Airport in Warsaw, the largest in the country, closed its airspace for several hours before reopening. He said there would be disturbances and delays throughout the day. The airport in the city of Lublin, in eastern Poland, has remained closed.

NATO confirms the support of the Polish defense

NATO said its air defenses supported Poland and that chief spokesperson Allison Hart said that the 32 national envoys of the military organization would discuss the issue at a pre-Planified meeting.

Whether intentionally or not, it is absolutely reckless, it is absolutely dangerous. But the full evaluation is underway, NATO secretary general Mark Rutte said.

For Putin, my message is clear. Stop war in Ukraine. Stop violating the Allied airspace. And know that we are ready, that we are vigilant and that we will defend every centimeter from the NATO territory.

Colonel Martin O’Donnell, the supreme allied powers of NATO, said, said, said This is the first time that NATO planes have been putting potential threats to allied airspace.

Several European officials have described the incursion as intentional and a sign of Russian climbing.

The Russian war is intensifying, not ending. We must increase the cost of Moscow, strengthen support for Ukraine and invest in the defense of Europe, The head of the European Union foreign policy, Kaja Kallas, said in a position on X.

The president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen called for more sanctions against Russia and said that the EU was preparing sanctions on the Shadow floats ” which transported its oil and its third countries which buy it.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia used 415 drones and 40 missiles in attacks on Ukraine overnight, adding that at least eight Iranian manufacturing drones had been targeted in Poland.

An extremely dangerous precedent for Europe, He said. A strong response is necessary – and it can only be a joint response from all partners: Ukraine, Poland, all Europeans, the United States.

Most of Ukraine, including the Western regions of Volyn and Lviv which, Border Poland, had been under aerial raid alerts almost all night, according to Ukraine’s Air Force.

Russia has prepared to consult Poland, known as Kremlin

The boundary countries of Ukraine have reported occasional missiles or Russian drones entering their airspace in the past during the war, but not on such a large scale, and they are not known for having slaughtered them. Two people were killed in Poland in 2022 by a Ukrainian air defense missile that was lost.

Last month, the Minister of Defense of Poland said that a flying object that crashed and exploded in a cornfield in eastern Poland had been identified as a Russian drone, and described it as provocation by Russia.

Look | How Russia tests water with the climbing of attacks:

Why Putin can call Trump’s bluff on Ukraine | On this subject (New window)

The leaders of the strategically located Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – the members of NATO who are the most nervous about Russian aggression – expressed profound concerns about Wednesday developments.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its drones had led a major attack on military facilities in western Ukraine, but that it did not plan to achieve objectives in Poland.

The ministry said that its forces had reached all its targets in the attack and stressed that Russian drones who would have crossed the border with Poland had a range of less than 700 kilometers.

Nevertheless, we are ready to organize consultations with the Polish Defense Ministry on this subject, said the ministry.

Andrey Ordash, the responsibility of Russia in Poland, had previously characterized the Polish accusations and NATO as baseless. Ordash was cited in a Russian news agency report from Ria State.

The Ministry of Defense declared separately in his morning report that he had destroyed 122 Ukrainian drones in various Russian regions during the night, especially above the Crimea and the illegally annexed regions of the Black Sea.

American legislators urge Trump to act

In the United States, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said that repeated NATO airspace reports by Russian drones were a sign that, Vladimir Putin tests our determination to protect Poland and Baltic nations.

After the Putin carnage which continued to visit in Ukraine, these incursions cannot be ignored, He said on X.

Republican representative Joe Wilson, principal member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a position on X that Russia was Attack the ally of NATO Poland with drones, the appellant act of war.

He urged US President Donald Trump (New window) reply with sanctions This will bankrupt the Russian war machine.

Trump, who warmly welcomed Putin in Alaska at a summit in August, warned the Russian chief of serious consequences If he was not serious about efforts to conclude a peace agreement after more than three years of war. But his white house has not yet applied additional sanctions to Russia.

The confrontation comes as Poland is expected to obtain 51.3 billion US dollars as part of a European Union program to increase its defense capacities.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Trump’s insistence that Europe assumes more responsibility for its own guarantee prompted Brussels to train the security action fund of $ 175.6 billion for Europe (SAFE).

Poland had previously declared that it would close its border with the Bélarus (New window) At midnight Thursday, local time following military exercises led by Russia which take place in Bélarus.

Thomson Reuters with files from the Associated Press