Poland’s Foreign Minister, Radosław Sikorski, has characterized last week’s Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace as an attempt by the Kremlin to test NATO’s reactions through incremental escalation without provoking a full-scale response. Sikorski added that such an event, by Ukrainian definitions, would be considered “a 100% success.”
The incident prompted strong reactions from Polish officials, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk stating the incursion brought Poland closer to military conflict “than at any time since the second world war.” Following the incursion, Polish President Karol Nawrocki visited the country’s largest air base. Additionally, Polish and allied aircraft were deployed again on Saturday due to a renewed threat of drone strikes in western Ukraine, and training for Polish teams on Ukrainian anti-drone best practices is slated for a NATO training center in Poland, described as a “safer environment” than Ukraine.
Further afield, Romania reported a drone incursion into its airspace on Saturday during a Russian attack on Ukrainian infrastructure, leading to the scrambling of two F-16 fighter jets. In related diplomatic commentary, Keith Kellogg, Trump’s Ukraine envoy, stated in Kyiv that the U.S. president was becoming “exasperated” with Russian President Putin. Sikorski expressed a desire for Trump to receive the Nobel Peace Prize if he achieves “a fair peace,” defined as “Ukraine within defensible borders and a Ukraine that is integrating with the West.”
Source: www.theguardian.com