NATO

NATO countries have accused Russia of violating the airspace of alliance members Estonia, Poland and Romania, as Russia rejected the claims and accused the European powers of levying baseless accusations.

“Your reckless actions risk direct armed confrontation between NATO and Russia. Our alliance is defensive, but be under no illusion, we stand ready to defend NATO’s skies and NATO’s territory,” UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said, addressing a meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Monday.

“If we need to confront planes operating in NATO space without permission, then we will do so,” she added.

Cooper’s comments were echoed by other Western countries at the meeting, including the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, who suggested that the multiple incidents could not be considered an accident.

Earlier on Monday, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Radoslaw Sikorski said that Russian aircraft would be brought down if they entered his country’s airspace.

“If another missile or aircraft enters our space without permission, deliberately or by mistake, and gets shot down and the wreckage falls on NATO territory, please don’t come here to whine about it. You have been warned.”

Several European countries have accused Russia of violating their airspaces in the past weeks, which Moscow has denied.

Estonia said on Friday that Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace for 12 minutes, before they were forced to withdraw, in an episode that Western officials said was designed to test NATO’s readiness and resolve.

Romania said last week that its radar detected a Russian drone, prompting it to scramble fighter jets.

Earlier this month, Poland reported that it had shot down several drones during a Russian aerial attack on Ukraine, marking the first time NATO forces have directly engaged in the conflict that began after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour.

Ukraine’s foreign minister said that such actions by Moscow should be met robustly, and renewed Kyiv’s offer to integrate its air defences into those of neighbouring Western countries to counter the Russian front.

“A strong response means that a threat should not be escorted, neither for 12 minutes, nor for one minute. It should be neutralised,” said Andrii Sybiha.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II. It has also forced European nations to boost their defence amid fears of Russian aggression.

United States President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the war seem to have faltered so far.

NATO’s North Atlantic Council will meet to discuss the issue on Tuesday.

The US’s new envoy to the UN, Michael Waltz, making his first appearance since taking his post, said that Moscow needed to defuse tensions, not exacerbate them.

“I want to take this first opportunity to repeat and to emphasise: The United States and our allies will defend every inch of NATO territory,” Waltz said.

Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, said there was no evidence backing the claims of Moscow’s incursions into NATO members’ airspace, and accused European powers of levying baseless accusations.

“We won’t be partaking in this theatre of the absurd,” he said.

“When you decide that you want to engage in a serious discussion about European security, about the fate of our common continent, about how to make this continent prosperous and secure for everybody, we’ll be ready.”

GERMANY’S army is preparing its forces to treat 1,000 injured troops a day as the prospect of a war between NATO and Russia looms ever larger.

Berlin’s war planning lays bare the scale of devastation that such a conflict would unleash upon the continent.

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The Kremlin denies that it wants a war against Russia’s Western rivals.

But recent incursions of military jets into NATO airspace has amplified fears that Putin has his sights on members of the alliance.

Since Russia‘s brutal invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Western countries have been forced to reckon with the prospect of a major war breaking out on European soil once again.

It has prompted military leaders to warn of the scale of casualties that could come if Moscow attacked the alliance.

Germany’s Surgeon General Ralf Hoffmann told Reuters that the exact number would depend on the intensity of fighting.

But he said: “Realistically, we are talking about a figure of around 1,000 wounded troops per day.”

Berlin is far from the only country to ramp up planning for mass casualties in the face of Russian sabre-rattling.

France has also placed its hospitals on a war-footing, with health bosses ordered to be ready for a “major engagement” by March 2026.

In anticipation of a large influx of wounded soldiers, Paris has ordered the country’s health centres to integrate the “specific needs of defence” into their planning.

They want French hospitals to be prepared to take in not only their own country’s injured troops, but also those of NATO allies.

Hoffmann added that Germany needs to look to the war in Ukraine to adapt how it approaches medical training for the battlefield.

“The Ukrainians often cannot evacuate their wounded fast enough because drones are buzzing overhead everywhere,” he warned.

Flexible transport options would be needed to get injured troops out of harm’s way, Hoffmann said, such as how Ukraine has used hospital trains.

Germany’s chief of defence General Carsten Breuer issued a stark warning this summer as to how soon a Russian attack could come.

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He told the BBC that Moscow’s increased military production represents a “a very serious threat” that could come as soon as 2029.

“This is what the analysts are assessing – in 2029. So we have to be ready by 2029,” he warned.

“If you ask me now, is this a guarantee that’s not earlier than 2029?

“I would say no, it’s not. So we must be able to fight tonight.”

In Britain, government officials are hurriedly updating decades-old contingency plans to protect the country in the event of Russian aggression.

Former NATO commander Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon previously told The Sun: “Britain is very much in the sights of Putin’s derision, and we are the ones likely to be attacked first.

“Britain really has got to dust off its contingency plans.

“Over 20 years of neglect, and we understand that’s exactly what this report is about at the moment.”

An assault on one NATO country by Russia would require all other member states to take up arms in their support.

This is because of the alliance’s Article 5 protection guarantee, which makes an attack on one an attack on all.

Fears of confrontation with Russia have spiked since Moscow’s air force launched incursions into NATO airspace in recent weeks.

Russian MiG-31 fighters entered the skies over Estonia earlier this month, prompting Western jets to be scrambled in response to shoo them away.

Moscow’s drones have also entered Polish and Romanian airspace over the past weeks.

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NATO says the word airmen is offensive and must be replaced by the gender-inclusive term “air force personnel”.

The western military alliance’s woke language manual challenges ­“unconscious bias”.

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It warns that gendered terms are outdated and risk alienating women and minorities.

Words such as serviceman, guardsman, and my guys are out — in favour of “service member”, “guard” and “team”, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

Even manning is corrected to staffing.

Critics branded it a farce, saying Nato’s job is deterring Russia, not policing pronouns.

Sir John Hayes, the Common Sense group of MPs chairman, fumed: “Their job is to defend countries, not promote distortion of language.

“These terms are a farce.”

However, the guide says “ranks in the Navy and air force don’t change”.

In January, an ex-Nato commander blasted woke Navy chiefs for renaming a submarine to avoid upsetting the French.

HMS Agincourt was the fleet’s sixth vessel and was named after the 1415 victory by outnumbered English archers.

A move to rebrand the under-construction hunter-killer was thrown out last year as “woke nonsense” by Tory Defence Secretary Grant Shapps.

German air force says its ‘quick reaction alert force’ was ordered by NATO to investigate Russian plane in neutral airspace.

Germany’s air force says it has scrambled two Eurofighter jets to track a Russian reconnaissance aircraft after it had entered neutral airspace over the Baltic Sea.

In a statement, the air force said its “quick reaction alert force” was ordered on Sunday by NATO to investigate an unidentified aircraft flying without a plan or radio contact.

“It was a Russian IL-20M reconnaissance aircraft. After visual identification, we handed over escort duties for the aircraft to our Swedish NATO partners and returned to Rostock-Laage,” it added.

The operation was conducted as NATO prepares to convene its North Atlantic Council on Tuesday to discuss a separate incident involving Russian jets over Estonia.

According to the Reuters news agency, that meeting is to address what Tallinn called an “unprecedented and brazen” violation of its airspace on Friday when three Russian MiG-31 fighters entered without permission and remained for 12 minutes before leaving.

The claim sparked condemnation from NATO and European governments, who called the incursion a “reckless” and “dangerous provocation”.

Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal requested urgent “NATO Article 4 consultations” on the “totally unacceptable” incursion. Article 4 allows NATO members to hold consultations with the alliance when any state believes its territorial integrity, political independence or security is under threat.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence denied the allegation while Estonia summoned Moscow’s charge d’affaires in protest.

Tensions have been heightened in recent weeks by a series of airspace violations along NATO’s eastern flank.

Romania said last week that its radar detected a Russian drone, prompting it to scramble fighter jets. Earlier this month, Poland reported that it had shot down several drones during a Russian aerial attack on Ukraine, marking the first time NATO forces have directly engaged in that conflict.

Ukraine has said the incidents show Moscow is testing the West’s resolve as the war is in its fourth year. Military analysts note that such incursions serve as intelligence-gathering operations, tests of NATO’s responses and pressure tactics designed to unsettle NATO members bordering Russia.

Istanbul, Turkiye – Just hours after Israel launched strikes last week against Qatar – a United States-designated “major non-NATO ally” and one of Washington’s closest Gulf partners – pro-Israel commentators quickly shifted their attention to Turkiye.

In Washington, Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, suggested that Turkiye could be Israel’s next target and warned that it should not rely on its NATO membership for protection.

On social media, Israeli academic and political figure Meir Masri posted, “Today Qatar, tomorrow Turkey.” Ankara responded sharply. In unusually harsh language, a senior adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote: “To the dog of Zionist Israel … soon the world will find peace with your erasure from the map.”

For months, pro-Israel media outlets have steadily escalated their rhetoric against Turkiye, portraying it as “Israel’s most dangerous enemy”.

Israeli commentators have also framed Turkiye’s presence in the eastern Mediterranean as a “threat” and its role in rebuilding post-war Syria as a “new rising danger”.

With Israel’s regional aggression escalating and its war on Gaza showing no sign of ending, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan retaliated in August by suspending economic and trade ties with Israel.

“In Ankara, this [anti-Turkish] rhetoric is taken seriously, with Israel seen as seeking regional hegemony,” Omer Ozkizilcik, non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, told Al Jazeera.

“Turkiye increasingly feels that Israeli aggression has no limits and enjoys American support,” added Ozkizilcik.

The strikes on Qatar also likely underscored Ankara’s doubts about US security guarantees as a NATO ally. Despite Doha’s special ally status with Washington, Israel faced no visible pushback from the US, leading to questions over whether the US would truly see any attack on Turkiye as an attack on itself, as the NATO charter dictates.

Unlike many Arab states, however, “Turkiye has long ago understood that it cannot rely on the US or NATO for its own national security interests,” said Ozkizilcik.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself now increasingly boasts of his country’s regional expansionist goals. In August, when asked whether he believed in the idea of a “Greater Israel”, he replied: “Absolutely.”

For Ankara, such rhetoric is not just symbolic – it signals an Israeli vision of dominance that stretches across the Middle East, potentially clashing head-on with Turkiye’s own regional outlook.

On Sunday, Fidan told Al Jazeera that Israel’s “Greater Israel” vision – which some religious Zionists believe extends into modern-day Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan – aims to “keep the countries in the region weak, ineffective, and especially to leave Israel’s neighbouring states divided”.

Over the last few weeks alone, Israel – in addition to continuing its genocidal onslaught in Gaza and nearly-daily raids in the occupied West Bank – also attacked Yemen and Syria, and is accused of hitting the Gaza aid flotilla in Tunisia.

Against this backdrop, Turkiye and Israel are already in a “geopolitical rivalry”, noted Ozkizilcik, adding that Israel’s actions clashed with what the analyst views as the “Turkish agenda to have strong [centralised] states” rather than decentralised states where multiple forces can hold power.

Regional hegemon

The sense that Israel is trying to become the region’s sole dominant power seemed to be confirmed in July when Tom Barrack, US ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy to Syria, made a startling admission: that Israel would prefer a fragmented and divided Syria.

“Strong nation-states are a threat – especially Arab states, [which] are viewed as a threat to Israel,” he said.

The subtext for Ankara was clear: Israel believes it needs to be the hegemon in the region to feel secure.

Israel’s actions bear this out. It has bombed Syria dozens of times since December 8 – when former President Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow – and grabbed Syrian territory in the immediate chaos.

It decapitated much of Hezbollah’s leadership in 2024 and still occupies parts of Lebanon despite a ceasefire, long seeking to weaken or destroy the group.

In June, Israel attacked Iran, sparking a 12-day war that struck Iranian military and nuclear facilities, killing senior commanders and nuclear scientists, and dragged in the US.

The attacks aimed not only to weaken Tehran’s defence and nuclear capabilities but also to push Washington towards regime change, targeting one of Israel’s strongest rivals in the region.

Israel may now view Turkiye as the next potential challenge to its regional hegemony, explaining its adamant stance that Ankara will not be allowed to establish new bases in Syria that “could threaten Israel” – as Netanyahu has previously said.

“The first manifestation of Turkish-Israeli friction will most likely appear in the Syrian front in the land and air,” warns Cem Gurdeniz, a retired Turkish admiral and architect of the Blue Homeland doctrine, a maritime strategy that calls for Turkiye to assert its sovereignty and safeguard its interests across the surrounding seas – the Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea.

“In parallel, Israel’s deepening military and intelligence footprint in Cyprus, tightly woven with Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration under American auspices, is perceived in Ankara as a deliberate attempt to fracture and contain the Blue Homeland,” Gurdeniz told Al Jazeera.

“To Ankara, this is not a defensive posture by Israel but an offensive encirclement strategy that could threaten both Turkish maritime freedom and the security of the Turkish Cypriot people,” he added, referring to Turkiye’s ties to the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is only Turkiye recognises, rather than the rest of Cyprus, which is ruled by Greek Cypriots.

The division of Cyprus is a major source of discontent between Turkiye, Greece and Cyprus.

Reports that Cyprus received Israeli air-defence systems last week are likely to raise alarm in Ankara.

In tandem in Syria, Israel has made no secret that what it considers to be a stable Syria “can only be a federal” one with “different autonomies”, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told European leaders at a meeting in Brussels in February.

Turkiye, on the other hand, backs the new Syrian administration, which insists on a centralised and unitary state.

For now, tensions between Israel and Turkiye can be described as “controlled”, says Gokhan Cinkara, director of Necmettin Erbakan University’s Global and Regional Studies Centre in Turkiye.

“At present, the riskiest scenario for Turkiye would be an uncontrolled outbreak of intergroup conflict in Syria. For this reason, Ankara is likely advising the new Syrian administration to act with a degree of rational pragmatism,” Cinkara told Al Jazeera.

“The immaturity of Syria’s security apparatus makes any potential intergroup clashes harder to contain, and risks turning it into protracted ethnic and sectarian conflicts. In the short term, therefore, adopting a unitary model seems difficult,” he added.

Red lines and risks

Netanyahu, for his part, is pushing for a “Balkanised” Syria, divided along ethnic and religious lines, demanding the demilitarisation of much of southern Syria, mostly populated by the country’s Druze population.

That is a move that, if implemented, could light the touchpaper and ignite demands from members of other groups in the country, including the Kurds and Alawite, for their own tailored versions of de facto autonomy.

“Turkiye, however, has clear red lines in Syria,” says Murat Yesiltas, director of foreign policy research at SETA, a think tank in Ankara with close ties to the government.

“The US and Israel’s attempt to reshape the regional order carries various dangers and risks, deepening fragmentation in the Middle East,” Yesiltas told Al Jazeera.

In March, Israel’s most influential security think tank, the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), published a piece that warned against the nascent peace process between Turkiye and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is seeking to close a chapter on a four-decade armed campaign against the Turkish state in a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people.

The INSS warned that this could “weaken the ability of the Kurds in Syria to continue to operate autonomously” and contribute to Ankara “expanding its influence in southern Syria, in a way that could increase the threat to Israeli freedom of action”.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz made clear that swaths of newly occupied territory in southern Syria will be held for an “unlimited amount of time”.

As Turkiye scoped out potential military bases in Syria’s Homs province and the main airport in Hama province in coordination with the newly established Damascus government, Israel bombed the sites.

“If Tel Aviv persists on this path, a conflict between Ankara and Tel Aviv will become inevitable. Turkiye cannot accept policies that perpetuate instability on its southern border,” said Yesiltas.

But full-blown rivalry is “not inevitable” as both sides recognise the costs of confrontation, particularly given economic interdependence, Andreas Krieg, associate professor of security studies at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera.

“Israel’s threat to Turkiye is not conventional military aggression but rather the targeting of Turkish interests via indirect means,” said Krieg, speaking about Ankara’s interests in Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean and the South Caucasus.

Given Washington’s full and seemingly unconditional support for Netanyahu’s bid to “reshape the region”, Krieg says Ankara’s prescription is to “strengthen strategic deterrence, especially through expanded air-defence, missile systems and intelligence capabilities” and to pursue regional coalitions with Qatar, Jordan and Iraq while maintaining open channels with Washington to “avoid full strategic isolation”.

“Ankara must recognise that future flashpoints are more likely to emerge in the grey zone – covert operations, air strikes, and proxy competition – than in formal declarations or diplomacy,” he added.

Kyiv in sanctions push as NATO states on Europe’s eastern flank take preventive action after Moscow’s air incursions.

Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelenskyy is preparing to meet US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City next week in a bid to urge him to impose stronger sanctions on Russia.

The Ukrainian president shared his plans on Saturday, as Russia intensified attacks on his country following air incursions into Europe’s eastern flank that have sparked anxiety over a potential spillover of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The announcement, reported by the AFP news agency, came the day after the European Union presented its 19th sanctions package.

“We now expect strong sanctions steps from the United States as well – Europe is doing its part,” Zelenskyy posted on X on Saturday.

This week brought us closer to finalizing the 19th sanctions package – we expect its approval soon. We will quickly synchronize the package in Ukraine. Russia’s energy resources are being restricted. The infrastructure of the “shadow fleet” will face new pressure. Cryptocurrency… pic.twitter.com/JzgvsQQHHQ

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 20, 2025

Trump already signalled last week that he was ready to impose “major sanctions” on Russia, which has so far evaded his attempts for a ceasefire, but only if all NATO allies agree to completely halt buying oil from Moscow.

Zelenskyy is also expected to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine to prevent future Russian attacks after an eventual truce, though Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that he would not accept the presence of Western troops in Ukraine.

Moscow stepped up attacks on Ukraine overnight, firing 40 missiles and some 580 drones in one of the biggest barrages of Russia’s war on its neighbour, killing at least three people and wounding dozens.

Preventive operations in east

NATO countries took measures to strengthen defences on Europe’s eastern flank after Russian drone incursions in Poland and Romania over the past two weeks, and unprecedented reports of three Russian fighter jets entering Estonian airspace on Friday.

Poland’s army said that Polish and allied aircraft were deployed early on Saturday in a “preventative operation” to ensure the safety of Polish airspace after Russia launched air strikes targeting western Ukraine, near the Polish border.

The United Kingdom said that its fighter jets had flown their first NATO air defence sortie to patrol Polish skies and defend against potential aerial threats from Russia as part of the alliance’s Eastern Sentry mission.

On Saturday, Russia’s Ministry of Defence denied that its aircraft flew into Estonia’s airspace the day before, but Estonian officials said the 12-minute violation was confirmed by radar and visual contact.

Colonel Ants Kiviselg, the commander of Estonia’s Military Intelligence Centre, said that it still “needs to be confirmed” whether the border violation was deliberate.

An uncrewed hydrogen-powered autonomous surveillance airship the size of a small bus has been floating over Portuguese waters, collecting imagery of ships and other objects. The goal of these test flights is to see if this airship can provide NATO with situational awareness of the maritime domain.

The flights are part of the alliance’s annual demonstration seeking new robotic technology to boost its defenses. The airship is one of several systems that NATO is evaluating during this exercise, which is called Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping using Maritime Unmanned Systems (REPMUS) 25 and Dynamic Messenger (DYMS) 25. NATO is also trialing unmanned surface and underwater vehicles, as well as other aerial ones, as part of the exercise.

The airship being tested is made by the Finnish Kelluu company, which also operates the aircraft. It is one of about 10 that are providing imagery and other sensing capabilities for commercial and scientific purposes. With NATO already conducting maritime security missions, the company sees a potential military role for its airships to provide persistent, low-level surveillance. 

The Kelluu LTA is relatively small as far as airships go, clocking-in at about 12 meters long. It can fly for up to about 12 hours at low level, the company states. They are designed to carry an assortment of sensors, including electro-optical/infrared cameras and passive systems that can detect electromagnetic emissions. Able to launch from austere locations with no runways, these airships operate “very quietly and without emissions, providing real-time connectivity without being limited by radio-link ranges (BRLOS),” company CEO Janne Hietala told us on Wednesday.

NATO officials did not want to elaborate on any particular system taking part in REPMUS25. However, they did discuss the overall goals for this demonstration.

“All of these systems require experimentation and integration into the operational environment,” Cmdr. Arlo Abrahamson, spokesperson for NATO’s Allied Maritime Command, told TWZ on Wednesday. “We want to place these systems in the hands of our operators and ensure those systems meet the operational requirements of Allied forces.”

Dynamic Messenger/REPMUS is working to bring new unmanned systems into the operational environment by gaining user feedback to spur development, Abrahamson told us. With the tests still being conducted, it is too early to say if or how an airship would be useful for NATO operations, Abrahamson noted.

Earlier this year, the alliance stood up Operation Baltic Sentry in response to several instances of underwater cable sabotage believed to have been carried out by China and Russia. In one such incident, Finnish authorities say the Russian-linked Eagle S purposely dragged its anchor across the sea floor to break undersea cables. The ship was later found to be full of spy equipment. Finnish authorities detained the ship and its crew, which you can see in the following video.

One of the main goals of Baltic Sentry is to provide additional persistent surveillance to better track vessels. That in turn is meant to ensure a quicker response to ships acting in a suspicious manner. 

The case could be made that airships in general could potentially benefit such a mission because of their long loitering and diverse sensing capabilities, as well as their efficiency. It doesn’t take much imagination to see the potential that deploying larger numbers of these uncrewed airships over a wide area can provide a drastic increase in situational awareness. This distributed approach to persistent sea surveillance using extended-endurance uncrewed systems has garnered major interest from militaries around the globe.

Overall, the U.S. and other nations are either developing or increasingly using lighter-than-air-craft for just those reasons. The Chinese spy balloon incident brought this reality to the headlines.

Additionally, China, in particular, as we have frequently noted, appears to be investing heavily in lighter-than-air technologies. A huge hangar in a remote area in the country’s northwest is a key example of this. The War Zone has been following activities at the facility, which is tied to the country’s development of high-altitude airships that could potentially gather intelligence, facilitate long-range communications, provide early warning capabilities for missile defense, or even possibly serve as launch platforms for drones and other payloads.

Balloons, airships and aerostats have a long history as surveillance and maritime patrol platforms, and transportation aircraft.

Kelluu’s uncrewed concept is a revamping of sorts of the maritime patrol role of lighter-than-air craft dating back to the First World War and widely used during the Second World War.

However, several fatal accidents and mishaps in the past have created headwind for the development and fielding of these systems.

There appears to be growing interest in the Kelluu airship.

The Finnish Air Force tested the Kelluu LTA in June. It was the first time an airship took part in Atlantic Trident 25, a two-week tactical and operational training exercise held across multiple locations in Finland.

“The airships complement high-level intelligence with low-altitude precision data and multi-sensor capabilities that support real-time situational awareness,” the Finnish Air Force stated on X at the time.

The Finnish Air Force did not provide details about what, if any, plans it has to further test or use the Kelluu airships. We’ve reached out for comment. Kelluu declined comment.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says an investigation is under way after drone spotted over government buildings in Warsaw.

Authorities in Poland have said that two Belarusian citizens were detained and a drone was “neutralised” after it was flown over government buildings and the presidential residence in the capital city, Warsaw.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said early on Tuesday that members of the country’s State Protection Services apprehended the two Belarusians, and police were “investigating the circumstances of the incident”.

The Associated Press news agency quoted Colonel Boguslaw Piorkowski, a spokesperson for the protection service, saying that the drone was not shot down by Polish forces but landed after authorities apprehended the operators.

“The impression is that this is not something that flew in from abroad but rather launched locally,” Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz, Poland’s minister of development funds and regional policy, told local media outlet TVN 24, according to the AP.

The minister also advised the public against rushing to conclusions or associating the incident with last week’s high-profile incursion by multiple Russian drones into Polish airspace during an aerial attack on neighbouring Ukraine, the AP reported.

Przed chwilą Służba Ochrony Państwa zneutralizowała drona operującego nad budynkami rządowymi (Parkowa) i Belwederem. Zatrzymano dwóch obywateli Białorusi. Policja bada okoliczności incydentu.

— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) September 15, 2025

Translation: Just now, the State Protection Service neutralised a drone operating over government buildings (Parkowa) and the Belweder. Two Belarusian citizens were detained. The police are investigating the circumstances of the incident.

The reported arrest of the Belarusian drone operators by Polish authorities comes as thousands of troops from Belarus and Russia take part in the “Zapad (West) 2025” military drills, which kicked off on Friday and are due to end on Tuesday.

Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, which border Belarus, closed their frontier crossings and bolstered defences in advance of the exercises, which authorities in Minsk said involve 6,000 soldiers from Belarus and 1,000 from Russia.

Poland is also on high alert after last week’s Russian drone incursions, which led to Polish and NATO fighter jets mobilising to defend against what was described as an “unprecedented violation of Polish airspace” by Moscow.

Polish F-16 and Dutch F-35 fighter jets, as well as Italian AWACS surveillance planes, deployed to counter the drones, marking the first time that NATO-allied forces have engaged Russian military assets since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

One of the drones damaged a residential building in Wyryki, eastern Poland, though nobody was reported injured, according to the Reuters news agency.

On Friday, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte announced that the Western military alliance would increase its defence “posture” in Eastern Europe following the Polish airspace violation.

Operation “Eastern Sentry” will include military assets from a range of NATO members, including Denmark, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, Rutte said, describing the incursion as “reckless” and “unacceptable”.

Amid the increased tension with Russia, NATO member Romania also reported a drone incursion on Saturday, which led to the scrambling of two F-16 fighter jets as well as two Eurofighters and a warning to Romanian citizens to take cover.

Romanian Minister of National Defence Ionut Mosteanu said the fighter jets came close to shooting down the drone before it exited Romanian airspace into neighbouring Ukraine.

Moscow’s ambassador to Romania was summoned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday, where Bucharest “conveyed its strong protest against this unacceptable and irresponsible act, which constitutes a violation of [its] sovereignty”.

Russia was “urgently requested… to prevent any future violations”, the Romanian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Moscow and Minsk insist, however, that the drills are defensive, adding that Western security concerns are ‘nonsense’.

Russia has showcased some of its advanced weapons while conducting a joint military drill with Belarusian troops amid heightened tensions with NATO countries following alleged violations of the airspaces of Poland and Romania by Moscow.

Approximately 7,000 troops, including 6,000 Belarusian soldiers, participated in exercises held at locations in Belarus and Russia.

Russia conducted a test strike with a Kalibr missile from the nuclear submarine named Arkhangelsk in the Barents Sea during the joint Russia-Belarus “Zapad” military drills, Russian news agency Interfax reported on Monday. The strike on the designated target was carried out by the submarine from an underwater position, Interfax reported.

Moscow and Minsk insisted on Tuesday that the drills are defensive, meant to simulate a response to an invasion.

But NATO states along the alliance’s eastern flank see them as a threat, particularly after alleged Russian drones crossed into Polish airspace last week. Warsaw has since warned that “open conflict” is closer now than at any point since World War II. Romania on Sunday accused Russia of drone incursion during its attacks on Ukraine.

Britain’s Labour Party-led government on Monday announced its fighter jets will fly air defence missions over Poland to counter aerial threats.

Russia has been at war with Ukraine since it launched a ground invasion in 2022.

Belarus’s Defence Minister Viktor Khrenin dismissed the NATO concerns.

“We have heard a lot of things … that we are threatening NATO, that we are going to invade the Baltic states,” he told reporters at the Barysaw base, east of Minsk. “Simply put, all kinds of nonsense.”

Still, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania have stepped up security, closing borders and carrying out counter-drills.

Belarus invites international observers

Belarus allowed rare media access, inviting foreign journalists, TV crews and even US army officers.

“Thank you for the invitation,” Bryan Shoupe, the US military attache, said as he shook hands with the Belarusian defence minister.

“Give the American guests the best places and show them everything that interests them,” the defence minister said. Cameras captured Khrenin shaking hands with two US Army officers, thanking them for attending.

The drills were a tightly choreographed show of force. Camouflaged armoured vehicles splashed across a river, helicopters swooped low over treetops, and young conscripts loaded shells into artillery systems. Others prepared drones for mock strikes.

Reporters were excluded from the naval manoeuvres in the Barents and Baltic seas, as well as the exercises near Grodna, close to the Polish and Lithuanian borders.

Minsk highlighted the limited scale of the drills, stressing that only 7,000 troops were involved. By comparison, the 2021 Zapad exercises included about 200,000 personnel, just months before Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Khrenin said the reduced numbers reflected Minsk’s efforts to ease tensions. “We have nothing to hide,” he insisted. “We are only preparing to defend our country.”

Belarus also pointed to the international presence, saying observers from 23 countries attended, many of them long-standing allies of Minsk and Moscow.

A spokesperson for NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) says it has no force posture changes to announce after an unprecedented flurry of Russian drones violated Polish airspace overnight. Authorities in Poland say they have assessed that the incursions were not accidental. Polish and Dutch fighters shot down several of the intruding uncrewed aircraft. The alliance has described this as a first-of-its-kind event, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned that the risk of a broader conflict in Europe is now greater than at any point since the end of World War II.

Polish authorities say Russian drones began to violate the country’s airspace at around 11:30 PM local time last night. The last incursion was reported at 6:30 AM local time this morning. The intrusions came amid a new round of Russian drone and missile attacks on neighboring Ukraine.

Exactly how many Russian drones, and of what specific types, made their way into Poland’s airspace is unclear. Polish Prime Minister Tusk said that between 11 and 19 violations of Polish airspace were recorded overnight, many of them crossing the border from Belarus. He said that at least three, and likely four, drones were shot down. In his Polish-language statements, Tusk used the term “kilkanaście,” which means a number between 11 and 19, and has no direct English translation.

Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland’s Foreign Minister, subsequently said there had been 19 total airspace violations. He also said Poland has assessed that the drones “did not veer off course but were deliberately targeted.”

Poland’s Tusk has also said that while at least three to four drones were shot down, another three to four appeared to have simply crashed in Polish territory. According to Karolina Gałecka, a spokesperson for the Polish interior minister, the remains of seven drones and an unidentified “rocket” have been recovered so far. Speaking at a briefing today, the spokesperson for the Polish Armed Forces Operational Command, Jacek Goryszewski, said debris currently categorized as being of “unknown origin” may turn out to be from an interceptor fired by NATO’s air defenses.

Pictures that have emerged so far show the drones that have been retrieved look to be Gerberas, a cheaper and simplified Russian-developed complement to variants and derivatives of the Iranian-designed Shahed-136s. Gerbera can be configured as kamikaze drones or decoys, and it is unclear whether the ones that flew into Poland were armed. With an estimated range of just under 373 miles (600 kilometers), it is not immediately clear where Gerberas may have been launched from that put them within reach of Polish territory.

❗️Breaking: More than 20, most likely 23, Russian drones were detected in a nighttime violation of Polish airspace, — Polish media Rzeczpospolita reported, referring to the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces. pic.twitter.com/piwOkFrwqt

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) September 10, 2025

The debris has been found mostly in areas in eastern Poland, relatively close to the country’s borders with Ukraine and Belarus, but some has also been discovered much further north and west. The drone incursions had also led to the temporary closure of four Polish airports, including the country’s main Chopin Airport in the capital Warsaw, although this has since reopened and flights have resumed. One of the other airports closed was Rzeszów-Jasionka in Poland’s south-east, which is a major hub for arms transfers to Ukraine.

Locations in Poland where Russian drones were found today shown on a map:

Cześniki (Zamość County, Lublin Voivodeship) – 1 drone,
Czosnówka (Bialski County, Lublin Voivodeship) – 1 drone,
Wyryki Wola (Włodawa County, Lublin Voivodeship) – 1 drone and a damaged building,… pic.twitter.com/tVfugCeOrA

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) September 10, 2025

NOTAMs for closures at Modlin and Warsaw are set to expire at 0330 UTC (~60 minutes from now), while NOTAMs for Rzeszow and Lublin are scheduled to end at 0600 (all times preliminary and subject to change). Transit traffic over Poland continuing to stay west of normal routes. pic.twitter.com/QRd97Nw4Bv

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) September 10, 2025

At the time of writing, there have been no reports of casualties, but at least one Russian drone hit a house when it came down.

⚡ 7 drones and rocket debris of unknown origin found in Poland

This was confirmed by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration, Karolina Gałecka, during a press conference. “We have found 7 drones and one piece of a rocket,” she confirmed.… https://t.co/EnsxzMOe6u pic.twitter.com/u6V2jz0iQj

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) September 10, 2025

Poland had already put its forces on high alert ahead of the first airspace violations last night. Polish and Ukrainian authorities have also confirmed they were actively coordinating throughout the night as Russian drones were tracked heading west.

Another report from the Commander of our Air Force. We are clarifying all available data and analyzing the details of this Russian strike.

Already during the night, Ukrainian forces were informing the Polish side through the relevant channels about the movement of Russian…

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 10, 2025

More information is coming in about the intrusion of Russian attack drones into Polish territory. As of now, it’s known about 8 drones. Increasing evidence indicates that this movement, this direction of strike, was no accident. There have been previous incidents of individual…

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 10, 2025

Prime Minister Tusk’s office has confirmed that assets that were “directed to the anticipated area of operation” included two Polish F-16s, as well as Polish Army Mi-24 Hind, Mi-17 Hip, and S-70 Black Hawk helicopters. At least one Polish Saab 340 Erieye airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft also appears to have participated in the operation last night, based on publicly available flight-tracking data. The look-down capability offered by the Erieye’s radar would have been particularly valuable for spotting small, low-flying drones. Poland’s armed forces also have extensive ground-based air defense capabilities.

After a major 9+ hour mission hunting Russian drones and coordinating air defenses overnight, Poland’s SAAB 340 airborne early warning aircraft is heading for home. pic.twitter.com/L1McAqVWz1

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) September 10, 2025

1x Polish AEW&C aircraft over Poland currently monitoring the eastern border.
Additionally, 1x NATO refueling aircraft was over Polish airspace supporting fighter jets, including at least one F-35, in the task of neutralizing Russian drones that have crossed the Polish border. pic.twitter.com/Dek3DwGFLb

— Amelia Smith (@ameliairheart) September 10, 2025

Polish authorities also said that two F-35 Joint Strike Fighters took part in the response to the Russian drone incursions. The Netherlands has separately said that its F-35s were among the assets that helped secure Poland’s skies overnight. The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) currently has Joint Strike Fighters stationed at Malbork in Poland, to help bolster the country’s air defenses.

Dutch F-35s have intercepted Russian drones over Poland.

Within the NATO framework, our F-35s make a significant contribution to the defence of our collective security. This is precisely what we stand ready to do.

This is how we keep the escalating Russian threat at a distance. pic.twitter.com/fxZDbAXuTG

— Ruben Brekelmans (@DefensieMin) September 10, 2025

NATO has further confirmed that an Italian Air Force AEW&C plane, which would be one of that country’s modified Gulfstream G-550 aircraft, as well as at least one A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) from a fleet the alliance operates collectively, were launched in response to the incursions into Polish airspace.

German Patriot surface-to-air missile systems forward-deployed in Poland were also at least placed on alert. A NATO source separately told Reuters that Patriot surface-to-air missiles in the region detected the drones with their radars, but had not engaged them.

Exactly what Polish and other NATO assets were used to shoot down Russian drones is unclear. The Dutch Minister of Defense, Ruben Brekelmans, has confirmed that Polish and Dutch fighters were among them.

Video, seen immediately below, has emerged that is said to show a Russian drone being downed by a Polish Air Force F-16, but this remains unverified. A picture of debris from an AIM-120C-7 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) that is said to have been found in Poland earlier today is also circulating online, but this is also unconfirmed. Both F-16s and F-35As could have employed AIM-120s, as well as AIM-9 Sidewinder variants, and even potentially their internal guns.

Doczekaliśmy się momentu w którym Polak może w swoim ogrodzie znaleźć resztki naszego albo holenderskiego pocisku powietrze – powietrze AIM-120 C-7 AMRAAM którym strzelano do rosyjskich dronów.

Gwoli jasności, tonie jest powód do radości

1/ pic.twitter.com/MavfmjGF4L

— Dawid Kamizela (@DawidKamizela) September 10, 2025

Poland’s Tusk thanked both his country’s armed forces and NATO allies for shooting down drones overnight.

My thanks and congratulations to the Polish Operational Command and our NATO pilots for shooting down Russian drones over Poland. Actions speak louder than words.

— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) September 10, 2025

Regardless, it is important to note here that NATO jets, including Dutch F-35s in Poland, have scrambled in response to Russian drones into the airspace over alliance members in the past. However, they had not fired any weapons in response to those intrusions until last night.

“This is the first time NATO planes have engaged potential threats in Allied airspace,” Col. Martin L. O’Donnell, a spokesperson for NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) told ABC News.

❝Last night showed that we are able to defend every inch of NATO territory including its airspace.❞

— @SecGenNATO Mark Rutte on the violation of Polish airspace by Russian drones

— NATO (@NATO) September 10, 2025

Though the immediate response to the Russian drone incursions overnight has concluded, Polish Minister of Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz confirmed that the search for downed drones was still underway as of Wednesday.

“We ask for calm and to share only the announcements of the military and state services. In case of encountering object fragments, please do not approach them and inform the police,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said on X.

Nad Polską trwa operacja neutralizacji obiektów, które naruszyły granicę RP. Prezydent i Premier zostali powiadomieni. Wszystkie służby działają. Prosimy o stosowanie się do komunikatów Wojska Polskiego i Policji. Samoloty użyły uzbrojenia przeciwko wrogim obiektom. Jesteśmy w…

— Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz (@KosiniakKamysz) September 10, 2025

The Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces called the overnight violations “unprecedented” and “an act of aggression that posed a real risk to the lives of our citizens.”

❗️W wyniku dzisiejszego ataku Federacji Rosyjskiej na terytorium Ukrainy doszło do bezprecedensowego w skali naruszenia polskiej przestrzeni powietrznej przez obiekty typu dron. Jest to akt agresji, który stworzył realne zagrożenie dla bezpieczeństwa naszych obywateli.

Na… pic.twitter.com/w9ygKlRh8V

— Dowództwo Operacyjne RSZ (@DowOperSZ) September 10, 2025

The Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces called the overnight violations “unprecedented” and “an act of aggression that posed a real risk to the lives of our citizens.”

“There is no reason to claim that we are in a state of war… but the situation is significantly more dangerous than all previous ones,” Poland’s Prime Minister Tusk said. He further warned that the prospect of a large-scale conflict in Europe is now “closer than at any time since the Second World War.”

Warsaw’s immediate response included the foreign ministry summoning Andrey Ordash, Russia’s chargé d’affaires in the Polish capital. However, Ordash told the Russian RIA Novosti news agency that Poland has not offered any evidence that the drones were of Russian origin.

Poland has also now invoked Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which forms the legal basis for NATO. Article 4 states that “the Parties [to the alliance] will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened.”

NATO’s article four calls on allies to “consult” in case of a threat. It was last invoked in 2022 after the Russian invasion by several Eastern European countries. Among other things, it would be a test of Trump’s approach to the alliance. Just a week ago Trump had said: “We are… https://t.co/yddJZAcP4U

— Shashank Joshi (@shashj) September 10, 2025

Since NATO was created in 1949, Article 4 has only been invoked seven times. The last of these was in 2022, in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The North Atlantic Treaty also includes a collective defense provision, Article 5, which has only ever been invoked once, following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

As noted, a spokesperson for NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) told TWZ that there are “no force posture adjustments to announce at this time.” U.S. European Command (EUCOM) declined to comment.

It remains to be seen what kind of response NATO might formulate following the Article 4 consultation.

A White House official told TWZ that President Donald Trump and the White House are tracking the reports out of Poland, and there are plans for President Trump to speak with Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki today.

Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers have been swift to condemn Russia’s actions. Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said that the “repeated violations of NATO airspace” by Russian drones were “fair warning that Vladimir Putin is testing our resolve to protect Poland and the Baltic nations.”

Repeated violations of NATO airspace by Russian drones are fair warning that Vladimir Putin is testing our resolve to protect Poland and the Baltic nations. After the carnage Putin continues to visit on Ukraine, these incursions cannot be ignored.

— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) September 9, 2025

Republican congressman Joe Wilson, a senior member of the foreign affairs committee, went further, describing the incursions as an “act of war.”

Russia is attacking NATO ally Poland with Iranian shahed drones less than a week after President Trump hosted President Nawrocki at the White House. This is an act of war, and we are grateful to NATO allies for their swift response to war criminal Putin’s continued unprovoked…

— Joe Wilson (@RepJoeWilson) September 10, 2025

Wilson called upon President Donald Trump to respond with sanctions “that will bankrupt the Russian war machine.”

Increasingly, questions are being asked at the highest levels as to whether the drone incursion was a deliberate act, although the Kremlin has denied this.

German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius said the Russian drones were “clearly set on this course” and “did not have to fly this route to reach Ukraine.”

German Defense Minister Pistorius:

There is definitely no reason to assume that [Russian drones violating Polish airspace] was a matter of course correction errors or anything of that sort. These drones were quite obviously deliberately directed on this course.

According to the… https://t.co/Qw8C7h9wtQ pic.twitter.com/71AAh3x8Yz

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) September 10, 2025

“There is absolutely no reason to believe that this was a course correction error or anything of the sort,” Pistorius told the German parliament. He added that, according to the Polish government, the drones were armed with warheads, although this claim doesn’t seem to be otherwise supported.

The Russian Ministry of Defense, meanwhile, claims that there were no intentions to engage any targets on Polish territory, but has provided no further information to substantiate that assertion. The type of drones used are also indicative of this being a probing action to give Russia a valuable opportunity to observe NATO’s response. It could also serve as a form of intimation.

Same outward public signaling as if they had used larger Geran drones, but with a much lower risk to Russia of any actual NATO response given the much smaller warhead (if they even carried any and weren’t the decoy variant).

— Oliver Alexander (@OAlexanderDK) September 10, 2025

The Russian government already stands accused of an escalating campaign of hostile activities short of all-out war across Europe since it launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Even before then, Russia had a long history of so-called hybrid or gray-zone warfare operations. Poland has previously accused Russia, as well as its ally Belarus, of deliberately fomenting crises along their shared borders.

Altogether, the full scale and scope of the response from Poland and the rest of NATO to last night’s Russian drone incursions, as well as whether that is the start of a trend of escalating airspace violations, remains to be seen.

Update: 2:00 PM Eastern –

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says he has now “received not only expressions of solidarity with Poland, but above all proposals for concrete support for the air defense of our country” following conversations today with the leaders of other NATO members in Europe and the alliance’s Secretary General. Tusk did not elaborate on what that support might entail. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had previously said that “allies expressed solidarity with Poland and denounced Russia’s reckless behaviour.”

❝Allies expressed solidarity with Poland and denounced Russia’s reckless behaviour.❞

Following a North Atlantic Council meeting, @SecGenNATO Mark Rutte delivered a statement to the media on the violation of Polish airspace by Russian drones

Tap to watch his full statement ↓

— NATO (@NATO) September 10, 2025

It is worth reiterating here that Poland has significant air defense capabilities itself and has been making major investments to expand and improve them. This includes plans for a new aerostat-based elevated airborne early warning system that would be especially useful for spotting and tracking incoming low-flying threats like drones and cruise missiles.

“What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!” U.S. President Donald Trump has now written in a post on his Truth Social social media network, but what actions he may be looking to take are unclear. Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and major political ally of Trump’s, has said the U.S. Congress is prepared to help impose new sanctions and tariffs on Russia in response.

I completely agree with President @realDonaldTrump‘s sentiment in response to Russia’s insane violation of Polish airspace for hours, deploying multiple drones.

Mr. President, Congress is with you. We stand ready to pass legislation authorizing bone crushing new sanctions and… pic.twitter.com/LIqYmS4rG7

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) September 10, 2025

Fox News has reported that no U.S. forces were involved in the response to the drone incursions overnight. A report from CNN says that Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, had been on his way to Poland at the time.

A NATO spokesman tells @LucasFoxNews there was ‘no U.S. military involvement’ in shooting down the Russian drones.
“This is the first time NATO planes have engaged potential threats in Allied airspace.”

Attributable to U.S. Army Col. Martin L. O’Donnell, Supreme Headquarters… https://t.co/FSDcqYsp8h

— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) September 10, 2025

More imagery of Russian drones that came down in Poland also continues to emerge.

This remains a developing story.

Howard Altman contributed to this story.

Contact the author: [email protected]

United States President Donald Trump has said he is ready to sanction Russia, but only if all NATO allies agree to completely halt buying oil from Moscow and impose their own sanctions on Russia to pressure it to end its more than three-year war in Ukraine.

“I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday, which he described as a letter to all NATO nations and the world.

Trump proposed that NATO, as a group, place 50-100 percent tariffs on China to weaken its economic grip over Russia.

Trump also wrote that NATO’s commitment “to WIN” the war “has been far less than 100%” and that it was “shocking” that some members of the alliance continued to buy Russian oil. As if speaking to them, he said, “It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia.”

NATO member Turkiye has been the third-largest buyer of Russian oil, after China and India. Other members of the 32-state alliance involved in buying Russian oil include Hungary and Slovakia, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

If NATO “does as I say, the WAR will end quickly”, Trump wrote. “If not, you are just wasting my time.”

As he struggles to deliver on promises to end the war quickly, Trump has repeatedly threatened to increase pressure on Russia. Last month, he slapped a 50 percent tariff on India over its continued buying of Russian oil, though he has not yet taken similar actions against China.

Trump’s social media post comes days after Polish and NATO forces shot down drones violating Polish airspace during Russia’s biggest-ever aerial barrage against Ukraine.

Poland and Romania scramble aircraft

Polish airspace has been violated many times since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but never on this scale anywhere in NATO territory.

Wednesday’s incident was the first time a NATO member is known to have fired shots during Russia’s war in Ukraine.

On Saturday, Poland said it and its NATO allies had deployed helicopters and aircraft as Russian drones struck Ukraine, not far from its border.

Poland’s military command said on X that “ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have reached their highest level of alert”, adding that the actions were “preventative”.

Also on Saturday, Romania’s Ministry of National Defence said that the country’s airspace had been breached by a drone during a Russian attack on infrastructure in neighbouring Ukraine.

The country scrambled two F-16 fighter jets to monitor the situation, tracking the drone until it disappeared from the radar” near the Romanian village of Chilia Veche, said the ministry in a statement.

Little sign of peace

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has welcomed the prospect of penalties on states still doing business with Moscow.

In an interview with the US media outlet ABC News last week, Zelenskyy said, “I’m very thankful to all the partners, but some of them, I mean, they continue [to] buy oil and Russian gas, and this is not fair… I think the idea to put tariffs on the countries that continue to make deals with Russia, I think this is the right idea.”

Last month, the US president hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, to discuss an end to the war, in their first face-to-face meeting since Trump’s return to the White House.

Shortly afterwards, he hosted Zelenskyy and European leaders in Washington, DC, for discussions on a settlement.

Despite the diplomatic blitz, there has been little progress towards a peace deal, with Moscow and Kyiv remaining far apart on key issues and Russia persisting in its bombardment of Ukrainian cities.

Russia claims advances

Russia on Saturday said it had captured a new village in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, which Moscow’s forces say they reached at the beginning of July.

The Russian Ministry of Defence said its troops had seized the village of Novomykolaivka near the border with the Donetsk region – the epicentre of fighting on the front. The AFP news agency was unable to confirm this claim.

DeepState, an online battlefield map run by Ukrainian military analysts, said the village was still under Kyiv’s control.

At the end of August, Ukraine had for the first time acknowledged that Russian soldiers had entered the Dnipropetrovsk region, where Moscow had claimed advances at the start of the month.

The Russian army currently controls about a fifth of Ukrainian territory.

The Kremlin is demanding that Ukraine withdraw from its eastern Donbas region, comprised of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as a condition for halting hostilities, something that Kyiv has rejected.

The Dnipropetrovsk region is not one of the five Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Crimea – that Moscow has publicly claimed as Russian territory.

On Friday, Zelenskyy said that Putin wanted to “occupy all of Ukraine” and would not stop until his goal was achieved, even if Kyiv agreed to cede territory.

US President Donald Trump has said he is ready to impose tougher sanctions on Russia, but only if Nato countries meet certain conditions which include stopping buying Russian oil.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said he was “ready to do major sanctions on Russia” once Nato nations had “agreed, and started, to do the same thing”.

Trump has repeatedly threatened tougher measures against Moscow, but has so far failed to take any action when the Kremlin ignored his deadlines and threats of sanctions.

He described the purchases of Russian oil as “shocking” and also suggested that Nato place 50 to 100% tariffs on China, claiming it would weaken its “strong control” over Russia.

In what he called a letter to Nato nations, Trump said: “I am ready to ‘go’ when you are. Just say when?”

He added “the purchase of Russian oil, by some, has been shocking! It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia”.

Trump also claimed the halt on Russian energy purchases, combined with heavy tariffs on China “to be fully withdrawn” after the war, would be of “great help” in ending the conflict.

Europe’s reliance on Russian energy has fallen dramatically since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In 2022, the EU got about 45% of its gas from Russia. That is expected to fall to about 13% this year, though Trump’s words suggest he feels that figure is not enough.

The US president’s message came during heightened tensions between Nato allies and Russia after more than a dozen Russian drones entered Polish airspace on Wednesday.

Warsaw said the incursion was deliberate, but Moscow downplayed the incident and said it had “no plans to target” facilities in Poland.

Denmark, France and Germany have joined a new Nato mission to bolster the alliance’s eastern flank, and will move military assets eastwards.

Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also made a demand to European nations over the purchase of Russian oil and gas.

In an interview with ABC News, he said: “We have to stop [buying] any kind of energy from Russia, and by the way, anything, any deals with Russia. We can’t have any deals if we want to stop them.”

Since 2022, European nations have spent around €210bn (£182bn) on Russian oil and gas, according to the think tank the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, much of which will have funded the invasion of Ukraine.

The EU has previously committed to phasing out the purchases by 2028. The US want that to happen faster – partly by buying supplies from them instead.

Trump’s message was to Nato, not the EU, therefore including nations such as Turkey, a major buyer of Russian oil and a country that has maintained closer relations with Moscow that any other member of the alliance.

Persuading Ankara to cut off Russian supplies may be a far harder task.

Trump’s most recent threat of tougher sanctions on Russia came earlier in September after the Kremlin’s heaviest bombardment on Ukraine since the war began.

Asked by reporters if he was prepared to move to the “second phase” of punishing Moscow, Trump replied: “Yeah, I am,” though gave no details.

The US previously placed tariffs of 50% on goods from India – which included a 25% penalty for transactions with Russia that are a key source of funds for the war in Ukraine.

Sept. 13 (UPI) — The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO is launching a new military campaign in Poland following an incursion by Russian drones in Polish airspace earlier in the week, the military alliance confirmed in a statement.

Operation Eastern Sentry will “bolster NATO’s posture along the eastern flank” and “involve a range of Allied assets and feature both traditional capabilities and novel technologies, including elements designed to address challenges associated with drones,” the organization confirmed in a release.

Earlier in the week, Polish and Dutch fighter jets scrambled by NATO shot down more than 20 Russian drones over eastern Poland.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk later confirmed the “multiple violations of Polish airspace,” and the country invoked NATO’s Article 4, convening allied nations to respond.

NATO countries, including the United States, have since pledged their full support for Poland.

This comes after U.S. President Donald Trump questioned Thursday whether the Russian drones could have been accidental.

“It could have been a mistake. It could have been a mistake, but also I’m not happy with anything regarding that situation,” Trump told a reporter asking about the situation.

Tusk responded in a Friday social media post.

“We would also wish that the drone attack on Poland was a mistake. But it wasn’t. And we know it,” Tusk said in response to Trump’s comments.

“No, that wasn’t a mistake,” Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski added separately on X.

American officials struck a supportive tone Friday.

“The United States stands by our NATO allies in the face of these alarming airspace violations. And rest assured, we will defend every inch of NATO territory,” acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Dorothy Shea said in an address to the U.N. Security Council.

The new military exercise is aimed at deterring further Russian military aggression in NATO airspace or on the ground.

“The violation of Poland’s airspace earlier this week is not an isolated incident and impacts more than just Poland. While a full assessment of the incident is ongoing, NATO is not waiting, we are acting,” NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Alexus G. Grynkewich, said in a statement issued by NATO’s Allied Command Operations.

“Eastern Sentry and this new approach will deliver even more focused and flexible deterrence and defense where and when needed to protect our people and deter against further reckless and dangerous acts like what occurred earlier this week,” he said.

Denmark, France and Germany have already committed military aircraft to the operation, with Denmark also pledging an anti-air warfare navy frigate. Meanwhile Britain has “expressed its willingness to support,” according to the NATO statement.

In January, NATO launched a similar operation aimed at deterring Russian operations to sabotage deep-sea cables in the Baltic Sea.

The Baltic Sentry program was also implemented by NATO’s Allied Command Operations and came after an undersea cable connecting Estonia and Finland was cut last December.

The new initiative, known as Eastern Sentry, follows incursion of Russian drones in Polish airspace on Wednesday.

NATO has announced a new initiative to bolster the security of its eastern European members in the wake of Russia’s violation of Polish airspace.

“NATO is launching Eastern Sentry to bolster our posture even further along our eastern flank,” Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Friday in Brussels during a joint news conference with NATO’s top commander in Europe, US General Alexus Grynkewich.

“This military activity will commence in the coming days and will involve a range of assets from allies, including Denmark, France, United Kingdom, Germany,” Rutte added.

The announcement comes two days after multiple Russian drones crossed into Poland on Wednesday, prompting NATO to send fighter jets to shoot them down and underlining long-held concerns about Russia’s three-year war in neighbouring Ukraine expanding.

NATO is still assessing whether Russia intentionally violated Poland’s airspace or not, Rutte said, but repeated that, either way, “it is reckless. It is unacceptable.”

“Although the immediacy of our focus is on Poland, this situation transcends the borders of one nation. What affects one ally affects us all,” Grynkewich said.

“Eastern Sentry will be flexible and agile, delivering even more focused deterrence and defence exactly when and where needed,” he added.

Russia said its forces had been attacking Ukraine at the time of the drone incursions and had not intended to hit any targets in Poland.

More allies to join

The new NATO mission, which begins on Friday evening, will involve a range of assets integrating air and ground bases.

Allies, including Denmark, France, the United Kingdom and Germany, have so far committed to the mission with others set to join, Rutte said.

Earlier on Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron said he would deploy three Rafale fighters to Poland.

“The security of the European continent is our top priority. We will not yield to Russia’s growing intimidation,” Macron posted on X.

The United Nations Security Council was set to meet on Friday at Poland’s request to discuss the incident.

Poland’s Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz thanked NATO for its “decisive action and decisions in response to Russia’s aggressive policy”.

The new deployment was “not only a strategic decision” but “an expression of responsibility for the security of the entire eastern flank of the alliance,” he added.

Poland has intercepted Russian drones that were flying over its airspace after completing a mission in western Ukraine. It’s the first time a NATO member nation has fired shots in Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Sept. 10 (UPI) — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Wednesday that Polish forces and their NATO partners downed a “huge” number of Russian drones overnight, the first time Russian assets have been intercepted in the military alliance’s airspace.

“Last night, the Polish airspace was violated by a huge number of Russian drones. Those drones that posed a direct threat were shot down. I am in constant communication with the Secretary General of NATO and our allies,” Tusk said in a post on X.

He said there were “multiple violations of Polish airspace,” each of which was met by Polish and NATO air defenses, including fighter jets.

Tusk said he was in continual contact with the commander of the operation, the defense minister and the country’s president.

Residents were sent emergency texts alerting them of the air defense operation and requesting them to report any drones they saw or locations where they fell, while people in three regions in the east of the country were told to stay indoors.

Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. Alexus Grynkewich said NATO’s swift and decisive response demonstrated both the alliance’s ability and determination “to defend Allied territory.”

Speaking after an emergency meeting of the National Security Bureau, Tusk said Poland was most likely “dealing with a large-scale provocation.” He called the situation “serious” but vowed that Poland was “ready to repel” attacks of this nature.

A number of the drones entered from Belarus airspace, Tusk told lawmakers later Wednesday, and that the last of the objects was shot down at 6:45 a.m. local time.

“I have no reason to claim we’re on the brink of war, but a line has been crossed, and it’s incomparably more dangerous than before. This situation brings us the closest we have been to open conflict since World War Two,” he said.

The incursion came amid a massive Russian airborne attack against neighboring Ukraine involving more than 400 drones and more than 40 cruise and ballistic missiles, with the Ukrainian Air Force saying that as many as 24 drones “crossed the Ukrainian state border flying in Poland’s direction.”

Poland shares borders of roughly equal length with both Ukraine and Belarus.

NATO Allied Command Operations confirmed the clashes were the first time NATO aircraft had engaged with potential threats in “Allied Airspace” with Poland and the Netherlands scrambling fighter jets, Italian early warning aircraft and a NATO air-refuelling tanker airborne and German-supplied Patriot missiles on alert.

“NATO, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, and all of Allied Command Operations is committed to defending every kilometer of NATO territory, including our airspace,” said Col. Martin L. O’Donnell, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe spokesman.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer issued a statement saying he had been in communication with Tusk over the incident, which he called a “barbaric attack on Ukraine and the egregious and unprecedented violation of Polish and NATO airspace by Russian drones”.

“This was an extremely reckless move by Russia and only serves to remind us of President Putin’s blatant disregard for peace and the constant bombardment innocent Ukrainians face every day.”

The incident came hours after Starmer hosted NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Downing Street where they discussed work to integrate U.S. support into plans for a so-called Coalition of the Willing of European countries putting together a reassurance force for Ukraine to uphold any future cease-fire.

Condemning the incursion in “the strongest possible terms,” French President Emmanuel Macron said it was completely unacceptable and that he would meet with Rutte — but did not say when.

Belarus claimed the incursion was accidental, caused by drones turned “rogue” after their systems were jammed, claimed its forces had shot some of them down, and that it communicated with Poland and Lithuania over a five-hour period during the night.

Moscow, however, sought to lay blame on Ukraine, with Russian state television quoting unnamed Polish lawmakers saying it appeared to be a false-flag operation perpetrated by Kyiv.

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says military defences deployed after ‘multiple violations of Polish airspace’.

Poland has shot down drones over its territory after repeated violations of its airspace during a Russian aerial attack on neighbouring Ukraine, the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces said.

“During today’s attack by the Russian Federation targeting targets in Ukraine, our airspace was repeatedly violated by drones,” the Polish command said in a statement early on Wednesday.

“At the request of the Operational Commander of the Armed Forces, weapons have been used, and operations are under way to locate the downed targets,” the military said.

The army said that Polish and NATO military aircraft had been mobilised to ensure airspace safety.

“Polish and allied aircraft are operating in our airspace, while ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have been brought to the highest state of readiness,” the operational command said.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed that an “operation is under way related to multiple violations of Polish airspace”.

Trwa operacja związana z wielokrotnym naruszeniem polskiej przestrzeni powietrznej. Przeciwko obiektom wojsko użyło uzbrojenia. Jestem w stałym kontakcie z Prezydentem i Ministrem Obrony. Odebrałem bezpośredni meldunek od dowódcy operacyjnego.

— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) September 10, 2025

Translation: An operation is under way related to multiple violations of Polish airspace. The military used armaments against the objects. I am in constant contact with the President and the Minister of Defence. I received a direct report from the operational commander.

Earlier, it was reported that four airports in Poland, including its main Chopin airport in Warsaw, were closed due to military activity.

According to notices posted to the US Federal Aviation Administration’s website, the three other airports closed were Rzeszow–Jasionka airport, the Warsaw Modlin airport, and the Lublin airport. Poland’s military did not mention the airport closures.

The military mobilisation in Poland came after Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Russian drones had entered Polish airspace, posing a threat to the city of Zamosc, but the air force later removed the statement from its Telegram messaging app.

Most of Ukraine, including the western regions of Volyn and Lviv, which border Poland, were under air raid alerts for several hours overnight, according to Ukraine’s Air Force data.

Poland said earlier that it planned to close its border with Belarus at midnight local time on Thursday (22:00 GMT, Wednesday) due to Russian-led military exercises scheduled to take place in Belarus.

Russia and Belarus’s large-scale military exercises, known as the “Zapad” drills, have raised security concerns in neighbouring NATO member states: Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. The “Zapad-2025” (West-2025) drills will be held in western Russia and Belarus from Friday.

Asked about the duration of the border closure, Polish Minister of Interior Marcin Kierwinski said it would only be reopened when the government was sure “there was no more threat to Polish citizens”.

The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had summoned the Polish charge d’affaires to complain about the border closure, which it said “caused significant difficulties”.

It described Poland’s move as “an abuse of its geographical position”.

“The temporary suspension of passage indicates rather an intention to conceal one’s own actions than the existence of any threat from Belarus,” the Foreign Ministry said.

Lithuania’s border guard said on Tuesday that the protection of its border with Belarus and Russia would be strengthened due to the exercises.

RUSSIAN drones have flown into Polish airspace, prompting NATO jets to be scrambled in response.

Polish and allied aircraft were activated in the early hours of Wednesday to ensure the county’s airspace is protected.

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It comes as Moscow continues to barrage Ukraine with relentless drone strikes.

Poland, a member of the NATO alliance, shares a border with Ukraine and has been one of Kyiv’s key international backers.

Warsaw’s operational command shared the tense news in a post on X.

“Polish and allied aircraft are operating in our airspace, while ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have been brought to the highest state of readiness,” they said.

The Ukrainian Air Force earlier said on Telegram that Russian drones were tearing towards the city of Zamosc.

It is not clear how many drone entered Polish airspace.

This comes after a Russian air killed at least 24 people and injured 19 others in the Donetsk region.

A glide bomb struck the village of Yarova, which was home to around 1,700 people before the war.

Valium Filashkin, head of Donetsk Military Administration, said: “This is not military action – this is pure terrorism.”

Vladimir Putin’s forces continue to wreak devastation across Ukraine as Moscow‘s brutal full-scale invasion grinds on.

On Sunday, Russia unleashed a vicious barrage against Ukraine that killed four people.

A two-month old baby was among the victims of the barbaric strikes.

Poland is a member state of NATO, giving it protections under the Article 5 mutual defence agreement.

This means that an attack on one member state is deemed an attack on all, obliging countries including the US, the UK and France to come to their aid if the clause is invoked.

Pressure is mounting on the United States and allies to impose deeper sanctions on Russia amid the intensifying onslaught.

Speaking on the White House lawn after the attacks this weekend, Donald Trump said he’s “not happy with the whole situation”.

Sunday’s attack saw 805 drones and a dozen ballistic and cruise missiles fired at some of Ukraine‘s largest cities.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko told The New York Post the “barbaric attack proved we have to do whatever it takes to stop Russian war machine fuelled by oil and gas revenue”.

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Vladimir Putin is on a roll the past few weeks. First President Trump invited him to Anchorage. Then he got a three-way hug with China’s President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a summit in China. And an invitation to a grand military parade in Beijing.

Since the 2014 annexation of Crimea, Putin had been shunted to the fringes of summit group photos. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he had been treated as a pariah by the United States and Europe. Indicted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide, he could travel only to countries that wouldn’t arrest him. In short, Moscow was not being treated with the respect it believed it deserved.

Trump thought that by literally rolling out the red carpet for Putin in Alaska — and clapping as the Russian loped down the red carpet — he could reset the bilateral relationship. And it did. But not the way Trump intended.

The Alaskan summit convinced the Russians that the current administration is willing to throw the sources of American global power out the window.

Trade partners, geopolitical allies and alliances — everything is on the table for Trump. The U.S. president believes this shows his power; the Russians see this as a low-cost opportunity to degrade American influence. Putin was trained by the KGB to recognize weakness and exploit it.

There is no evidence that being friendly to Putin and agreeing with Russian positions are going to make Moscow more willing to stop fighting in Ukraine. Overlooking Russia’s intensifying hybrid attacks on Europe, in February, Vice President JD Vance warned Europe that it should be focusing instead on the threat to democracy “from within.” This followed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth‘s assurances that Ukraine would never join NATO. Trump has suggested that U.S. support for NATO and Europe is contingent on those countries paying up. In an event that sent Moscow pundits to pop the Champagne, Trump told Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office that he just didn’t “have the cards” and should stop trying to beat Russia.

Did any of this bring Putin to the negotiating table? No.

In fact, the Kremlin indicated a readiness to talk with Trump about the war only when Trump threatened “very, very powerful” sanctions in mid-July. This time, he seemed serious about it. The Alaska summit happened a month later. The tougher Trump is with Russia, the more likely he is to get any kind of traction in negotiations. It’s unfortunate that the president has now gone back to vague two-week deadlines for imposing sanctions that never materialize.

Russia believes it will win the war. China has been a steady friend, willing to sell Russia cars and dual-use technology that ends up in drones that are attacking Ukrainian cities. It has also become Russia’s largest buyer of crude oil and coal. Western sanctions have not been biting the Russian economy, though they have nibbled away at state revenues. Europe and the United States have not been willing to apply the kind of economic pressure that would seriously dent Russia’s ability to carry on the war.

Putin keeps saying that a resolution to the war requires that the West address the “root causes” of the war. These causes, for Russia, relate to the way it was treated after losing the Cold War. The three Baltic nations joined Europe as fast as they could. Central and Eastern European countries decided that they would rather be part of NATO than the Warsaw Pact. When Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine started asking for membership in the European Union and NATO, Russia realized it wouldn’t be able to convince them to stay with economic appeal or soft power. It had to use force. Unable to demonstrate the attraction of its suffocating embrace, or the value of its Eurasian Economic Union, Russia believed it had to use force to keep Ukraine by its side. It reminds one of a grotesque Russian expression: “If he beats you, it means he loves you.”

The real “root cause” of the war in Ukraine is Russia’s inability to accept that centuries of empire do not confer the right to dominate former colonies forever. Mongolia learned this. As did the British. And the French. And the Ottomans. The Austro-Hungarians.

Eventually this war will end. But not soon. Russia is insisting on maximalist demands that Ukraine cannot agree to, which include control over territory it hasn’t managed to occupy. Ukraine will not stop fighting until it is sure that Russia will not attack again. Achieving that degree of certainty with flimsy security guarantees is impossible.

In the meantime, Ukrainian cities on the frontline will continue being wiped out, citizens in Kherson will continue being subjects of “human safari” for Russian drone operators, people across Ukraine will continue experiencing daily air raids that send them scurrying into shelters. Soldiers, volunteers, civilians and children will continue dying. Trump appears to care about the thousands of daily casualties. Most of these are Russian soldiers who have been sent to their death by a Russian state that doesn’t see their lives as worth preserving.

Trump is understandably frustrated with his inability to “stop the killing” because he has assumed that satisfying Russian demands is the answer. The opposite is true: Only by showing — proving — to Russia that its demands are unattainable will the U.S. persuade the Kremlin to consider meaningful negotiations. Countries at war come to the negotiating table not because they are convinced to abandon their objectives. They sit down when they realize their goals are unattainable.

Alexandra Vacroux is the vice president for strategic engagement at the Kyiv School of Economics.