Russia’s drone incursion into Poland’s airspace this week was an attempt by the Kremlin to test the alliance’s reactions, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said on Sunday.
In an interview with the Guardian, Sikorski pointed to the fact that the nineteen drones flown to Poland on Wednesday morning were not loaded with explosives, “which suggests that Russia tried to test us without starting a war.” The top diplomat dismissed claims that Warsaw was not prepared for the attack as Russian drones managed to fly hundreds of miles into the country and only four of them were downed. “If it happened in Ukraine, by Ukrainian definitions, that would be regarded as a 100% success,” Sikorski stressed. Sikorski explained that Russian drones didn’t reach their targets and there was minor damage to property and no casualties during Russia’s incursion. The official said Poland’s response would be “much tougher” had the incursion caused injuries on deaths. “With an aggressor and a liar like Putin, only the toughest counter pressures work,” he said, without elaborating on how Poland’s potential response would be. It should be noted that most of Russian drones crushed into fields and only one hit a house in eastern Poland.
Speaking on the side-lines of the annual conference in Kyiv on Sunday, Sikorski also said Polish troops will receive training from Ukrainian drone operators to learn anti-drone practice to help defend the country from future attacks and that the training will be held in Poland’s soil.
Commenting on stationing of 26 countries’ post-war mission in Ukraine, including with boots on the ground, Sikorski said his country would not contribute to such a mission and warned against making strong rhetoric.
Furthermore, Sikorski rejected the Kremlin’s claims that the drones had gone astray and the incursion was no “deliberate”. “You can believe that one or two [drones] veer off target, but 19 mistakes in one night, over seven hours, sorry, I don’t believe it,” he said in response to US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that the attack “could have been a mistake”. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also questioned Russia’s motives behind the attack. Responding reporters’ question on Saturday, Rubio said it was unclear whether the drones were targeted to go into Poland specifically.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday that Russia’s drone incursion had brought his country closer to military conflict “than at any time since the second world war”. On Friday, NATO announced its decision to bolster its eastern flank by moving troops and fighter jets to Poland to protect against future Russian incursions. On Saturday, Polish and NATO aircraft were again deployed in the country due to renewed Russian drone strikes on western Ukraine.
It should be noted that Russia has numerous times violated NATO’s airspace, however Wednesday’s drone incursion into Poland’s airspace was the most serious of its kind since the start of full-fledged invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The latest NATO member to be subjected to Russian incursions was Romania that reported on Saturday that a Russian drone breached its airspace.
