France and Germany have stepped up efforts to defend Polish airspace following Warsaw’s accusation that Moscow launched a drone strike on its territory, prompting the UN Security Council to convene an emergency meeting.
Poland described the overnight drone incidents from Tuesday to Wednesday, which led Polish and NATO forces to intercept several drones, as a deliberate and “unprecedented” attack on the nation, NATO, and the European Union.
Moscow denied targeting Poland, claiming there is no proof that the drones were Russian.
The intrusion coincided with a fresh wave of Russian strikes across Ukraine amid its ongoing offensive since the 2022 invasion.
United States President, Donald Trump, who has been seeking to mediate an end to the war in Ukraine, told reporters on Thursday that the alleged incursion may have occurred “by mistake.”
However, Polish President Karol Nawrocki, speaking Thursday at an airbase in western Poland, stressed that the incident was “an attempt to test the mechanism of action within NATO and our readiness to respond.”
Germany announced it would “extend and expand” its role in NATO’s Air Policing programme to provide additional protection for Polish airspace.
The German defence ministry said it would double the number of Eurofighter jets on deployment to four and prolong their mission by three months, through the end of the year.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X that France would “deploy three Rafale fighter jets to contribute to the protection of Polish airspace and of NATO’s Eastern Flank together with our Allies.”
The UN Security Council, under the South Korean presidency, confirmed it would hold an emergency session on Friday at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT) to discuss Warsaw’s claims of a “violation of Polish airspace by Russia.”
