WARSAW, Poland (AP) 鈥 European leaders on Thursday expressed alarm over growing Russian hostility threatening their countries as Moscow’s forces pursue their invasion of Ukraine 鈥 concerns exacerbated by events of the previous day when multiple Russian drones struck Polish soil.
The incursion into Poland, which came during , deepened longstanding fears that between Poland鈥檚 neighbors could precipitate a wider conflict. have so far failed to get traction.
European officials described the incursion as a deliberate provocation, forcing the NATO alliance to confront a potential threat in its airspace for the first time and compelling it to take stock of its military response and capabilities.
Some in Europe call incursion a deliberate provocation
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke about the incursion with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday.
Starmer鈥檚 office said that it 鈥渨as clear that Russia was continuing to ramp up its aggression, systematically stepping up its attacks through a campaign of increasingly belligerent actions.鈥 The German government said it will 鈥渆xtend and expand air policing over Poland.鈥
NATO鈥檚 supreme commander in Europe, U.S. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, said Thursday that the alliance wasn鈥檛 certain about the number of drones that entered Polish territory, nor whether they were fired intentionally.
鈥淏ut we will learn lessons. We will learn of things that we need to enhance our posture, to handle these limited incursions,鈥 Grynkewich said in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The foreign ministers of Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania published a joint statement calling the incursion 鈥渁 deliberate and coordinated strike constituting an unprecedented provocation and escalation of tension.鈥
Finnish President Alexsander Stubb, who met Thursday with President in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, said that now 鈥渢he line between war and peace has been blurred鈥 and that Wednesday鈥檚 events were another milestone following Russia鈥檚 illegal seizure of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.
鈥淲e now live in an age of uncertainty,鈥 Stubb told a news conference with Zelenskyy.
The Kremlin said it had nothing to add to a Wednesday statement by Russia鈥檚 Defense Ministry, which insisted that Russian forces had not targeted Poland and that it was open to discuss the incident with Polish officials.
The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on the drone incursion for Friday afternoon at Poland鈥檚 request.
Poland strikes a defiant tone
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk addressed Polish troops at an air base in the central city of Lask on Thursday, praising the quick response from the troops and NATO allied forces from the Netherlands.
He pledged to push ahead with a 鈥済reat modernization program鈥 for his country鈥檚 military.
But the response also brought questions about the wisdom of using advanced fighter jets to shoot down relatively cheap drones.
Poland expects to receive its first F-35 fighter jets from the United States next year, Tusk said. It will be the first delivery of some of the 32 aircraft expected by 2030 as part of a support package finalized five years ago, he said.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki also visited a military air base Thursday, striking a defiant tone in a statement that said Poland 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 get scared by Russian drones.鈥
Nawrocki described the incursion as 鈥渁n attempt to test our abilities, the ability to react.鈥 He was visiting a base in Poznan-Krzesiny, in western Poland.
The Polish Air Navigation Agency announced that Poland was introducing air traffic restrictions in the eastern part of the country. It said the step was taken at the request of the Polish army for national security reasons but did not elaborate.
Poland said some of the drones that entered its airspace Wednesday came from Belarus, where Russian and local troops have begun gathering for . Poland is closing its border with Belarus at midnight, a planned move also associated with the military exercises.
Global repercussions
Underscoring the global repercussions of the Russia-Ukraine war, China on Thursday urged Poland to keep open a section of the Belarus border for a China-EU freight track that crosses it. The rail line is part of China鈥檚 Belt and Road Initiative to boost trade with other countries.
The European Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank, concluded that Russian President is testing Europe鈥檚 resolve against the threat from Moscow while the United States demands it shoulder more of the financial burden.
鈥淚nconsistency between words and deeds seem to have eroded Europe鈥檚 credibility in Russia鈥檚 eyes,鈥 it said in an analysis published Thursday.
U.S. President on Wednesday offered an to Russia鈥檚 drone incursion. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 with Russia violating Poland鈥檚 airspace with drones? Here we go!鈥 Trump posted on social media.
Trump told Nawrocki, the Polish president, in the White House last week that the U.S. will maintain a .
Polish airspace has been of Ukraine in 2022, but never on this scale in Poland or anywhere else in NATO territory.
Russian drone attacks on civilian areas are daily occurrences in Ukraine. The Ukrainian military has successfully developed drones to combat the attacks, called interceptors. The war has spurred fast-track development of .
Ukraine鈥檚 Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal and his British counterpart John Healey signed an agreement for the United Kingdom to produce Ukrainian interceptor drones, Shmyhal said Thursday on Telegram.
The Ukrainian air force said Thursday its forces intercepted 62 out of 66 Russian strike and decoy drones in the country鈥檚 airspace overnight.
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Associated Press writers Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine; Ken Moritsugu in Beijing; Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England; and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
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