Poland calls NATO meeting after downing Russian drones

Poland has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday over the drone incursions into its airspace. 

South Korea's UN mission, which holds the Council presidency this month, said a time for the meeting was being discussed, according to the AP news agency. 

Four other UN Security Council members have reportedly also asked for a meeting, Reuters news agency reported.

UN Security Council 'hamstrung' over divisions between members

The UN Security Council has five permanent members with the power to veto any of the Council's decisions — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States — as well as 10 non-permanent members.

It has regularly held emergency meetings on Russia's war in Ukraine, including two weeks ago (August 29) after Russia launched a major missile and drone attack on Kyiv and other cities. 

At that meeting, the US warned Russia to move towards peace or face possible sanctions. 

The Council of Councils, a global foreign policy network, noted in an analysis published last week that the UN has "played a limited role" in efforts to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. 

"It is hamstrung by entrenched divisions among the five permanent members (P5) of the UN Security Council," it said.

As Russian forces intensify attacks ahead of winter, civilians in Pokrovsk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region are fleeing the front line — many on foot or by bike. Despite expectations of its fall, the town remains under Ukrainian control, though evacuation teams now refuse to enter.

In Kramatorsk, DW asked locals about Putin's demand that Ukraine surrender the territory without resistance.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said he had an "excellent" phone call with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday. 

The two leaders discussed the "troubling developments in Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, particularly following Russian drone incursions into Poland," Macron said in a post on X.

Macron had earlier called the movement of Russian drones into Polish airspace "simply unacceptable."

Trump, however, has only offered an ambiguous response to the incursion, posting nearly half a day later on his Truth Social platform: "What's with Russia violating Poland's airspace with drones? Here we go!"

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of a "real risk" that the war in Ukraine could spread beyond its borders after Russian drones entered Polish airspace.

"The incident, which reportedly took place during another large-scale Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine, again underlines the regional impact and real risk of expansion of this devastating conflict," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

He added that Guterres is deeply concerned about reports that Russian military drones entered Polish airspace overnight and damaged residential areas.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Poland has received offers of support for its air defense from its European allies after talking to the leaders of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Ukraine, and NATO.

"In my conversations today... I received not only expressions of solidarity with Poland but also proposals for concrete support for our country's air defense," Tusk wrote on X after Poland shot down suspected Russian drones in its airspace on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X that he offered Poland assistance, training, and expertise in shooting down Russian drones.

"We need to work on a joint system of air defence and create an effective air shield over Europe," the Ukrainian leader wrote.

UK Defense Secretary John Healey held pre-arranged talks with the so-called E5, which includes defense officials from Italy, France, Germany, Poland.  

"Together, we the E5 totally condemn these attacks," Healey said.

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen telephonically discussed collaborating with the US to strengthen sanctions against Russia.

"Ursula informed me about the joint work with American partners on strengthening sanctions against Russia," he wrote on X.

The Ukrainian leader thanked von der Leyen for her strong State of the Union address and for her clear message regarding the allocation of €6 billion ($7 billion) for Ukraine's drone production.

Zelenskyy mentioned that they also discussed the use of frozen Russian assets and support for Ukrainian children, among other things.

According to German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, Germany has become Ukraine's biggest supplier of military aid and is now sending more weapons than the United States.

Germany is "now the largest supporter" of Ukraine, Pistorius said in parliament, noting that a total of approximately €9 billion ($10.5 billion) has been allocated for this purpose in the budget.

Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, European allies have supplied massive amounts of military aid. However, the United States has been by far the largest backer.

This changed in January when Donald Trump returned to the White House, and Washington significantly shifted its approach. Trump temporarily suspended military deliveries and intelligence sharing with Kyiv after an unprecedented public dispute with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office.

Pistorius noted that the US has begun providing Ukraine with weapons through NATO's Prioritized Ukraine Requirement List (PURL) initiative. While the US procures the weapons, other allies fund them.

Poland says it shot down Russian drones that it says repeatedly violated its airspace during an attack on Ukraine. Polish and Dutch fighter jets stationed in Poland intercepted the drones. Warsaw has convened NATO allies to discuss the incursion.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized the Russian drone incursion into Poland as a "reckless" and "aggressive" act.

"Russia has endangered human lives in a state that is a member of NATO and the EU," Merz said in a statement released by a German government spokesperson.

"This reckless action is part of a long chain of provocations in the Baltic Sea region and on NATO's eastern flank. The German government condemns this aggressive Russian action in the strongest possible terms," the statement said.

"NATO is and remains ready to defend itself," Merz emphasized.

Wednesday's violation of Poland's airspace by Russia with drones is the most significant cross-border incident involving a NATO member since the war in Ukraine began. However, other NATO countries have reported similar incursions and drone crashes on their territory. 

Russian drones and missiles have crossed into the airspace of NATO members Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania several times.

Just last month, Warsaw reported that a Russian military drone entered its airspace and exploded in a field in eastern Poland. The country labeled the incident a "provocation."

In July, two Gerbera drones, which are unmanned military aircraft built and used by Russia against Ukraine, flew into Lithuania from Belarus and crashed, one of them carried explosives.

In September 2024, a Russian Shahed-type strike drone crashed in Latvia, which is another Baltic country and a member of NATO and the European Union.

Romania found several drone crash sites on its territory in 2023, including one that caused a crater near a village across the Danube River from the Ukrainian port of Izmail.

Since 2023, there have been numerous reports of airspace incursions and discoveries of drone fragments in Romania and neighboring Moldova, which is not a NATO member.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that Poland has no doubt that the drones that flew into its territory were not an accident. He was commenting on Russian drones that entered its airspace overnight during the Russian attack in western Ukraine.

"We have no doubt that this was not an accidental event... We are dealing with an unprecedented case of an attack not only on Poland's territory but also on the territory of NATO and the European Union," Sikorski told reporters.

Sikorski added that the mass use of drones threatens all of NATO and that Prime Minister Donald Tusk has asked NATO allies to provide Poland with stronger air defense.

The new rules, which were approved by the German government on Wednesday, legally require operators of critical infrastructure in Germany to protect their facilities and networks.

According to the law, any infrastructure that provides services to at least 500,000 people is considered critical.

The measures respond to the significant deterioration of the security environment since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the growing awareness of Europe's vulnerability to natural disasters, sabotage, and terrorist attacks on infrastructure

The KRITIS law implements a European Union directive that obligates companies in sectors such as energy, transportation, finance, health, and water to secure their installations.

This could entail constructing barbed-wire fences around power stations or installing security cameras and motion detectors. Companies must also prepare and register inventories of vulnerable infrastructure.

At a minimum, German companies should assess their risk exposure, develop resilience plans, and report significant outages to the authorities, who can penalize entities that fail to comply with the regulations.

"This is a red alert sent to all of us in Europe, not only the eastern flank," said Polish MEP Michał Kobosko to me in the corridors outside the main chamber of the European Parliament.

The drone attack by Russia on EU member state Poland has dominated the discussions in the coffee bars and canteens of the house here in Strasbourg. 

Kobosko said many of his fellow members had come to speak to him in the morning to express their solidarity, but also their horror, about what the drone strike means for Europe.

The great and good of EU politics are here for the annual "State of the European Union" speech by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, but the main concern is not her messages, but rather whether Russia's actions will draw Europe into a direct war with its eastern neighbor. 

Poland is often accused for being alarmist about the Russian threat, but Italian MEP Brando Benefei says they must be listened to now.

"We should not underestimate and not take a light approach," Benefei told me as he raced between meetings in Strasbourg. "In terms of the threats that come from Russia — they are real."

The key issue for most of the lawmakers I've been talking to here is whether the response from the White House will be as strong they hope for. Poland is traditionally a strong ally of the US and has held good relations with the Trump administration.

Russia's Defense Ministry said its targeted military facilities in western Ukraine, but did not plan to hit any targets in Poland.

The ministry claimed that its forces had accomplished all their objectives in the attack. It also noted that the Russian drones "which allegedly crossed the border with Poland" had an operational range of no more than 700 km (434 miles).

"Nevertheless, we are prepared to hold consultations with the Polish Defense Ministry on this topic," the Russian military said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Air Force reported that Russia launched 415 strike and decoy drones, 42 cruise missiles, and one ballistic missile overnight.

According to the report, Ukrainian air defenses intercepted or jammed 386 drones and 27 cruise missiles.