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Poland rejected on Friday a suggestion by Donald Trump that Russian drone incursions into its airspace could have been a mistake, a rare contradiction of the U.S. president from one of Washington’s closest European allies.
“We would also wish that the drone attack on Poland was a mistake. But it wasn’t. And we know it,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X.
Early on Wednesday, Poland shot down several drones in its airspace with the backing of military aircraft from its NATO allies, the first time a member of the Western military alliance is known to have fired shots during Russia’s war in Ukraine. Poland said the drones entered its airspace over a period of hours, and drone debris was recovered in multiple regions.
While the American ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, said the U.S. would “defend every inch of NATO territory” in a social media post in the hours after the drone incursion, Trump gave little public comment on the matter, offering a post of his own on Wednesday that expressed surprise at that incident.
Poland says it shot down multiple Russian drones in its airspace, the first time a NATO country is known to have directly fired on Russia since it invaded Ukraine. While this isn’t the first time a Russian attack has crossed into another country’s airspace, Andrew Chang explains why this time is different — and examines why the escalation is of particular global concern.
Images provided by Getty Images, The Canadian Press and Reuters.
On Thursday, Trump told reporters as he left the White House for New York City that the Russia drones that landed in Poland “could have been a mistake.”
“But regardless, I’m not happy about anything having to do with that whole situation. But hopefully it’s going to come to an end,” Trump said.
The White House has not announced any additional sanctions or actions against Russia, despite multiple deadlines Trump has publicly announced for the Kremlin to get serious about brokering a ceasefire in the war. Trump hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska in mid-August, but the summit did not lead to further momentum for Ukraine and Russia to engage in direct talks.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who visits Kyiv on Friday, also responded to Trump’s words.
“On the night that 19 Russian drones crossed into Poland, 400 [drones] plus 40 missiles crossed into Ukraine. These were not mistakes,” he said in a video posted on X.
Poland is among the closest U.S. allies in Europe. It has praised Trump for calling for greater European military spending, and has been praised in turn by the Trump administration for devoting the largest share of its economy to defence of any NATO ally. A U.S. anti–ballistic missile base opened in northern Poland last year.
At Poland’s request, the UN Security Council will meet in New York to discuss the matter on Friday. NATO called a news conference for later in the day with its Secretary General Mark Rutte, and its top military official, Supreme Allied Commander Europe Alexus Grynkewich, who is a U.S. Air Force general.
European officials have been in Washington this week hoping to co-ordinate sanctions on Russia with the U.S. administration. Announcing such sanctions in tandem was previously standard practice but has not taken place since Trump returned to office.
Putin has not commented on the incident. Russia’s Defence Ministry said there were no plans to hit targets in Poland, though it didn’t outright deny that it violated Polish airspace.
On Thursday, France said it would deploy three Rafale fighter jets to help Poland protect its airspace and Germany said it would strengthen its commitment to NATO’s eastern border.
Russia, Belarus begin military exercises
Even before the drone incident, Tusk announced that Poland would close its border with Belarus ahead of that country’s joint military exercises with Russia, which began Friday.
The “Zapad-2025” exercises were not aimed at any other country, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.
In December, Russia and Belarus signed a pact giving Moscow’s security guarantees to its ally, including the possible use of Russian nuclear weapons to help repel any aggression.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban voiced his country’s support for Poland on state radio on Friday, saying the incursion into Polish airspace was unacceptable.
“Despite the current political skirmishes, the Poles are our friends,” said Orban, who has often been critical of levels of EU support for Ukraine during the war. “So we had said about the incursion of Russian drones into Polish territory right away that it was unacceptable.”
In overnight fighting, Russia’s military said its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 221 Ukrainian drones, including nine over the Moscow region.
A drone attack on Russia’s northwestern port of Primorsk set fire to a vessel and a pumping station on Friday, the regional governor said, the first reported drone strike on one of the country’s largest oil and fuel export terminals.
Since early August, Ukraine has intensified attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure, including refineries and pipelines, as peace talks remain stalled.
Gov. Alexander Drozdenko said more than 30 drones were destroyed over the region, without mentioning the war in Ukraine.
Primorsk is located on the Gulf of Finland near St. Petersburg.