Poland says Russia testing NATO with drone incursions

By Jo Harper

WARSAW (AA) – Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Russian drones that entered Polish airspace last week were intended to test NATO’s response without sparking a full-scale war.

“Interestingly, they were all duds, which suggests to me that Russia tried to test us without starting a war,” Sikorski told the UK daily The Guardian on Sunday.

He dismissed claims that Poland’s defenses had been unprepared after only three or four of the roughly 19 drones were shot down.

“The drones didn’t reach their targets and there was minor damage to property, nobody was hurt. If it had happened in Ukraine, by Ukrainian definitions, that would be regarded as a 100% success,” Sikorski said. He added that Warsaw’s response would have been “much tougher” if casualties had occurred.

The minister also rejected a suggestion by US President Donald Trump that the incident “could have been a mistake.” He said: “You can believe that one or two veer off target, but 19 mistakes in one night, over seven hours, sorry, I don’t believe it.”

Russia has denied deliberately targeting Poland.

Sikorski, writing on US social media company X, accused Moscow of contradictory messaging: “The Russian government suggests that Russian drones violated Polish airspace by mistake, while the Russian ambassador to the UN claims that Russian drones cannot physically reach Poland. Which Russian lie should we believe?”

NATO said Friday it would deploy more fighter jets to its eastern flank to strengthen protection against future drone attacks.