Poland warns of escalation, holds Nato talks after Russian drone intrusion

#Poland #warns #escalation #holds #Nato #talks #Russian #drone #intrusion

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Poland on Wednesday gathered its NATO allies for immediate talks when Russian drones flew into the Polish airspace during the attack on Ukraine.

Poland’s airspace was violated 19 times, and at least three drones were shot after the jets of Warsaw and its allies, Tusk said. Authorities said no one was harmed.

Firefighters and the Army are shown in a village in eastern Poland, Virki Vola, in the footage posted by local media, which inspected a house with a roof open and the rubble nearby has suffered dirt.

Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosla Skorski said the interference was not accidental, and it has been declared an unprecedented issue of attacks not only in the Poland but also the NATO and the European Union.

A White House official told AFP on condition of anonymity, US President Donald Trump was “tracking reports outside Poland” and he was ready to talk to his Polish counterpart Karol Nuruki.

The Russian Ministry of Defense refused to target Poland, and its Foreign Ministry accused Warsaw of spreading “myths” to increase the war in Ukraine.

The Russian embassy in Warsaw told AFP separately that “Poland has failed to provide proof of Russian origin of items entering Poland’s airspace”.

Russian drones and missiles have entered the airspace of NATO members, including Poland, several times during the three -and -a -half -year war in Russia, but a NATO country has never tried to shoot them.

Tusk said he has called for NATO’s Article 4, under which a member may demand immediate dialogue when a member feels his “territorial integrity, political freedom or security” – only the eighth time used.

“This situation brings us closer to the conflict since World War II,” Tusk told Parliament, “though” today there is no reason to claim that we are in a state of war “.

The incident came when Russia released a barrage of strikes in Ukraine, including the western city of LVIV.

Ukrainian President Wolodmeer Zelannsky said violations of airspace is a “dangerous view” for Europe and has called for a strong response from Kiev’s Western allies.

The Polish Ministry of Interior said that a house and a car were damaged overnight, adding that so far, seven drones and debris have been located from an unknown project.

“We were just sitting there, and the plane flew … I said to my husband: ‘Why is this plane so fast today?’ And suddenly, an explosion, and that was the same, “64 -year -old Elkja Vesoloska, whose house was destroyed, told AFP in Waraki Vola.

The North Atlantic Council, a NATO central political decision -making organization, changed the form of its weekly meeting on Wednesday to be held under Article 4 of the contract.

The basis of NATO is the principle that the attack on any member is considered an attack on all.

NATO chief Mark Rod praised his organization’s “extremely successful reaction”, saying to journalists that the air defense of the alliance had done its job.

He condemned Moscow’s “carelessness” and demanded Putin to stop a war that he said was now being incited by ordinary citizens.

‘The act of aggression’

The Andrea Order, a top Russian diplomat in Poland, had earlier told RIA Novosti on Wednesday that he had been summoned to the Foreign Ministry for a meeting.

The Poland Army’s operational command said airspace violations have been “unprecedented” and “a process of aggression”.

When the European capitals confirmed the condemnation, many pictured the incident when Russia examined Ukrainian allies.

“What he wants to do is,” said Kaja Kalas, the European Union’s top diplomat. “And whenever he is bold, because he is able to be bold because our answer has not been so strong.”

A senior NATO diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity, saying that the response from NATO would probably “move some additional assets to Poland or elsewhere in the east, and would advance the” harsh line “from the NATO secretary general.

The interference took place on September 12-16 a few days before the Zapad -2025 military exercises in Russia and Belarus.

Tusk, commenting on the exercises, said that “critical days” were ahead for Poland, before he announced the closure of the remaining a few border crossing with Belarus on the exercises.

Poland, a major supporter of Ukraine, hosts more than a million Ukraine refugees and is an important transit point for the war -torn country for Western humanity and military assistance.