In this image made from video, Police and Military Police secure parts of a damaged object shot down by Polish authorities at a site in Wohyn, Poland, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafal Niedzielski)
Trump offers ambiguous initial response to Russian drone incursion into Poland’s airspace
WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 President Donald Trump on Wednesday offered an ambiguous initial response to Russia’s drone incursion into Poland’s airspace, a provocative act by Moscow that has put the United States’ NATO allies in Europe on edge.
In this image made from video, Police and Military Police secure parts of a damaged object shot down by Polish authorities at a site in Wohyn, Poland, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafal Niedzielski)
WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 President Donald Trump on Wednesday offered an ambiguous initial response to Russia’s drone incursion into Poland’s airspace, a provocative act by Moscow that has put the United States’ NATO allies in Europe on edge.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 with Russia violating Poland鈥檚 airspace with drones? Here we go!鈥 Trump posted on his Truth Social platform late Wednesday morning, nearly a half-day after Poland announced that several Russian drones entered its territory over the course of many hours and were shot down with help from NATO allies.
White House officials did not immediately respond to queries about Trump鈥檚 cryptic comments about the incursion. It was the first time the transatlantic alliance has confronted a potential threat in its airspace, scrambling jets to shoot the Russian drones out of the sky.
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But Trump’s comment stood in sharp contrast to the strong condemnation by several European leaders and was notably less robust than that of his ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker.
鈥淲e stand by our Allies in the face of these airspace violations and will defend every inch of NATO territory,鈥 Whitaker
The incursion occurred as the U.S. leader is struggling to persuade Russian President to engage in direct peace talks with Ukrainian President to end Russia’s more than 3-year-old
Trump spoke Wednesday with , who was at the White House last week for talks in which the two leaders n Poland. Following the call, Nawrocki posted on X that the conversation 鈥漜onfirmed the unity of our alliance.”
The U.S. president last month held a summit with Putin in Alaska and then met with Zelenskyy and key European allies about finding a pathway to end the war 鈥 something that Trump vowed to get done quickly during his 2024 White House campaign.
Trump emerged from those high-level talks to announce he was arranging a Putin-Zelenskyy meeting and potentially a three-way summit in which he would take part. But Trump’s confidence in arranging a peace summit has fizzled as Putin has only intensified air strikes on Ukraine over the past few weeks.
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After Wednesday’s incursion, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina urged Trump to move forward with new sanctions on Moscow.
鈥淢r. President, Congress is with you,鈥 Graham posted on X. 鈥淲e stand ready to pass legislation authorizing bone crushing new sanctions and tariffs that can be deployed at your discretion. Our goal is to empower you as you deal with this mounting threat.鈥
Poland said some of the drones came from Belarus, a close Moscow ally, where Russian and Belarusian troops have begun scheduled to start Friday. Russia鈥檚 Defense Ministry said it did not target Poland, while Belarus said it tracked some drones that 鈥渓ost their course鈥 and entered Poland because they were jammed.
But European officials did not accept Moscow’s explanation and argued the incident suggests Putin is escalating his war on Ukraine. Polish airspace has been since Russia鈥檚 full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but never on this scale in Poland or anywhere else in NATO territory.
鈥淲hat Putin wants to do is to test us,鈥 European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told reporters in Brussels. 鈥淲hat happened in Poland is a game changer.鈥 She added that the Russian action should result in stronger sanctions.
allies swiftly held talks Wednesday on the with the alliance鈥檚 32 member states. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told Parliament that the consultations came under Article 4 of the treaty that founded NATO in 1949 in the aftermath of World War II.
the shortest of the NATO treaty鈥檚 14 articles and infrequently invoked, states that: 鈥淭he Parties will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened.鈥
