Officials around the world are asking “What next?” after more dozen Russian drones broke into Polish airspace overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning. Russia claims the drones mistakenly crossed into Poland after striking targets in Ukraine, but Poland says they tracked some of the drones coming directly from Belarus.
The drones were intercepted and shot down by NATO and Polish forces.
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NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned in a statement that the Russian incursion “is not an isolated incident.”
The exchange marked the first time since the founding of NATO that allied fighter planes engaged enemy targets over allied airspace.
Poland invokes Article 4
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the incursion “a large-scale provocation” and formally invoked Article 4 to convene a NATO discussion regarding the event and to determine how the allies might respond.
“This is the first time in this war that [the drones] did not come from Ukraine as a result of errors or minor Russian provocations,” Tusk said. “For the first time, a significant portion of the drones came directly from Belarus.”
Tusk and senior Polish leaders say that this is closest their country has come to an all-out war since the end of World War II 80 years ago.
Russia, Belarus deny targeting Poland
Russian officials say that they had no intention of targeting Poland. Belarus, Russia’s ally, said it had tracked several drones that got jammed and “lost their course.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it was willing to hold direct consultations with Poland’s Defense Ministry to explain the events and calm down the rising temperature of the conflict.
Europe says ‘Russia’s war is escalating’
Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, declared that “Russia’s war is escalating, not ending,” and told reporters: “What Putin wants to do is to test us.”
Kallas called for stronger sanctions against Russia in response to the incident.
NATO issues call to action
Secretary General Mark Rutte called on NATO allies to act. “We need to invest more in our defence, ramp up defence production so we have what we need to deter and defend,” Rutte said in a Sept. 10 statement, “and we need to continue to support Ukraine, whose security is interlinked with our own.”
