Russia has twice breached NATO territory in the past week after 19 drones were found to have entered Polish airspace on Wednesday, with more breaching Romania’s at the weekend
Poland has confirmed that NATO troops are being deployed to the country after the Kremlin breached the treaty’s airspace for the second time in a week.
Dubbed Operation Eastern Sentry, the major deployment remains top secret – but is said to involve sending NATO troops into Polish territory. It comes after Russia breached Romanian airspace following a major incursion of 19 drones into Poland last week. Volodymyr Zelensky branded the recent incursion an “expansion of war”.
After Poland’s breach on Wednesday, Warsaw requested Nato to trigger Article 4 of the treaty, which is considered the starting point for major NATO operations.
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The alliance scrambled F-16s on Saturday after Putin flew drones – that were destined for Ukrainian targets – into Romanian airspace. The country’s defence ministry said a drone had entered their aispace while Moscow pounded neighbouring Ukraine with drone strikes.
Zelensky said it wasn’t a mistake, like Russia previously claimed in regards to the Poland incursions. He branded it an “obvious expansion of the war by Russia”.
Two Romanian F-16s were scrambled to monitor the situation after the strikes. Bucharest branded the breach a “new challenge” to security in the region.
According to Bucharest’s defence ministry, a drone was detected in their national airspace and was tracked until it disappeared from their radar screen near a village called Chilia Veche. They added: “Such incidents demonstrate the Russian Federation’s lack of respect for international law.”
The Russian incursion was dubbed a “reckless” threat to security by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. She said: “The violation of Romanian airspace by Russian drones is yet another unacceptable breach of an EU member state’s sovereignty. This continued reckless escalation threatens regional security. We stand in solidarity with Romania.”
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk last week said just under 20 drones soared across the country’s border lines. He said it was the closest that Poland had been to conflict “since WW2”.
Four of the suicide drones were knocked out of the sky by Nato fighter jets from Poland, Italy, the Netherlands and the US, according to reports. Another seven drones were later found on Polish ground.
The Kremlin has tried to claim there’s no evidence that the drones were Russian assets. Spokespeople even tried to imply they have been launched by Kyiv.