Poland downs Russian drones in NATO airspace
Polish airspace was “violated by a huge number of Russian drones,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said
What happened
Poland said early Wednesday that its military had shot down Russian drones that flew into its territory, prompting the closure or suspension of flights at Warsaw’s Chopin Airport and three smaller airports. Polish airspace was “violated by a huge number of Russian drones,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on social media. “Those drones that posed a direct threat were shot down” by Polish and NATO fighter jets. Poland’s military command called the incursion “an act of aggression.”
Who said what
Poland’s downing of Russian drones, during Moscow’s latest massive overnight aerial assault on neighboring Ukraine, was the first time a NATO member “has fired shots in the war,” Reuters said. It “feels like an escalation by Moscow — testing the West’s response,” BBC Eastern Europe correspondent Sarah Rainsford said. Lone Russian drones had crossed into NATO airspace previously, but this bunch “didn’t just stray into Poland. They went deep enough for even Warsaw airport to be closed.”
The incursion “occurred at a time of heightened tension,” as Russia and Belarus prepare for joint military exercises across the Polish border, The Wall Street Journal said. It also “comes at an especially sensitive time diplomatically,” Politico said, as President Donald Trump weighs “whether there is any genuine prospect of a peace deal with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What next?
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Russia’s “repeated violations of NATO airspace” offered “fair warning” that Putin “is testing our resolve to protect Poland and the Baltic nations,” and it “cannot be ignored.” Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) said Russia “attacking NATO ally Poland” was an “act of war” that Trump should respond to with sanctions “that will bankrupt the Russian war machine.”
-
The Olympic timekeepers keeping the Games on trackUnder the Radar Swiss watchmaking giant Omega has been at the finish line of every Olympic Games for nearly 100 years
-
Will increasing tensions with Iran boil over into war?Today’s Big Question President Donald Trump has recently been threatening the country
-
Corruption: The spy sheikh and the presidentFeature Trump is at the center of another scandal
-
Alexei Navalny and Russia’s history of poisoningsThe Explainer ‘Precise’ and ‘deniable’, the Kremlin’s use of poison to silence critics has become a ’geopolitical signature flourish’
-
Switzerland could vote to cap its populationUnder the Radar Swiss People’s Party proposes referendum on radical anti-immigration measure to limit residents to 10 million
-
Greenland’s capital becomes ground zero for the country’s diplomatic straitsIN THE SPOTLIGHT A flurry of new consular activity in Nuuk shows how important Greenland has become to Europeans’ anxiety about American imperialism
-
US, Russia restart military dialogue as treaty endsSpeed Read New START was the last remaining nuclear arms treaty between the countries
-
What happens now that the US-Russia nuclear treaty is expiring?TODAY’S BIG QUESTION Weapons experts worry that the end of the New START treaty marks the beginning of a 21st-century atomic arms race
-
Epstein files topple law CEO, roil UK governmentSpeed Read Peter Mandelson, Britain’s former ambassador to the US, is caught up in the scandal
-
Iran and US prepare to meet after skirmishesSpeed Read The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East
-
Grok in the crosshairs as EU launches deepfake porn probeIN THE SPOTLIGHT The European Union has officially begun investigating Elon Musk’s proprietary AI, as regulators zero in on Grok’s porn problem and its impact continent-wide
