It was caused on Wednesday to Russia’s biggest clash with NATO since the beginning of the Ukraine War and has led Poland, which calls the allies to consult.
The Polish Prime Minister, spoke on Wednesday to the Parliament of an unprecedented “aggression” in which at least 19 Russian drones violated his airspace, giving rise to a situation that the head of government described as “the closest to an open conflict from the”.
In an intervention at the beginning of an extraordinary council of ministers, Tusk said “that it is the first time that Russian drones are demolished over the territory of a NATO Member State, and that is why all our allies take the situation very seriously.”
Although he said that “there is no reason to affirm that we are in a state of war,” he described the incidents of “large -scale provocation” and ordered to invoke article 4 of the to call consultations to the allies.
Tusk also said to have received “not only expressions of solidarity with Poland, but, above all, proposals for concrete support for the country’s air defense” in contacts with European leaders who maintained throughout the day.
The head of the Polish government alluded to X specifically the conversations with their counterparts from the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands, respectively, Keir Starmer, Giorgia Melonia, Friedrich Merz and Dick Schoof, the French head of state, Emmanuel Macron, the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, in addition to the secretary general of the NATO,.
The Polish President, Karol Nawrocki, who realized in X of a phone call about the Russian violation of Poland’s airspace rape with the president of the United States, Donald Trump, as part of “a series of consultations with allies” have confirmed the unit “with Poland, also multiplied.
Russia, on the other hand, has denied “intentions to attack Poland” through its spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, and the Russian business manager in Warsaw, Andréi Ordash, who will receive a formal protest note, said the accusations about the incursion were “unfounded.”
A test for anti -aircraft defenses
During the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, the Polish army detected a wave of incursions into its airspace and the incursion of 19 objects that turned out to be drones, at least three of which were shot down in flight.
So far the remains of eight drones have been found in the eastern and central regions of the country, in addition to a missile, which was most likely fired by the Polish defenses to intercept a drone, with the result of slight material damage in a house and a car parked.
The overwhelming international reactions
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, while insisted on a tenthimonous sanctions package, a faster withdrawal of Russian fossil fuels and the use of frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine.
From NATO, Rutte described the response of the Alliance and member countries as “very effective” and recalled the commitment to defend “every centimeter of NATO territory.”
The president of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, said “full solidarity with Poland”, and described the violation of the European airspace as “unacceptable.”
Macron condemned the “unacceptable” Russia for Russia of Poland airspace with drones and urged Moscow to end that “flight forward” that condemned “with the greatest firmness.”
“The incursion of Russian drones in the Polish airspace during an attack led by Russia against Ukraine is simply unacceptable. The condemnment with the greatest firmness,” Macron said in a message on his social networks.
Merz, on the other hand, strongly condemned Russia’s “aggressive performance” after violating this country last morning with armed drones the Polish airspace.
“Russia has put human lives in a state that belongs to NATO and the EU. This reckless behavior adds to a long chain of provocations in the Baltic region and on the Eastern NATO flank,” he said.
Increasing tension on the eastern flank
From September 12 to 16, the military exercises “Zapad” will take place in Russian and Belaruse territory, in which tens of thousands of soldiers who will simulate will participate, said Tusk yesterday, the taking of the so -called “Suwalki corridor”, a strip of few tens of kilometers wide that is the only earthly link between the Baltic and Poland countries.
Poland has temporarily closed its border with Belarus due to these maneuvers and the tension between Warsaw and Minsk, always latent due to illegal migratory pressure on the border they share, has reached new levels in recent days, with the arrest of alleged spies in both countries.
