According to the Romanian Ministry of Defense, two F-16 fighter planes rose and pursued the alleged Russian drone until it disappeared from the radar screens near the Romanian village of Chilia Veche. In Poland, too, helicopters and fighter planes in Poland and its NATO allies rose in Poland due to Russian drone attacks on the border with Ukraine.
“Due to the risk of attacks by attacks of unmanned aircraft in the Ukrainian regions bordering on Poland, Polish and Allied aircraft operate in our airspace,” said the Polish armed forces command in the online service X. Later, Poland President Donald Tusk gave the all -clear, but at the same time emphasized: “We remain vigilant.”
In the night of Wednesday, at least 19 Russian drones had entered the airspace of NATO member Poland, several of them were shot down. Poland and its allies condemned the incident as a targeted provocation against the entire western military alliance. Among other things, Germany and France announced that it announced that Poland’s air defense is reinforced along its eastern border with Ukraine and Belarus in response, and NATO announced a commitment to strengthen the NATO-East flank.
The Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj regarded the recent drone incidents as “expansion of war by Russia”. The Russian army “knows exactly where their drones are moving and how long they can operate in the air,” he emphasized. In contrast, US President Donald Trump had speculated that the Russian drones may have been accidentally flown into Polish airspace on Wednesday.
According to a current survey, a majority of Germans fear an attack on a NATO state like Poland or Lithuania in the near future. According to the INSA survey for the “Bild am Sonntag”, 62 percent of those surveyed fear that only 28 percent do not expect such an attack. A majority of respondents spoke in favor of a harder gait towards Russia: According to the survey, 49 percent of Germans are convinced that all deliveries of gas and oil from Russia should be stopped to the EU immediately.
US President Trump announced his willingness to sanctions against Russia on Saturday, but made a condition that all NATO allies stop buying Russian oil. “I am ready to impose extensive sanctions against Russia if all NATO countries have agreed to do the same and have started, and if all NATO countries hire the purchase of oil from Russia,” said Trump. The US President described it as “shocking” that NATO countries continue to buy oil from Russia, as this weakens their negotiating position towards Moscow.
Former Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) meanwhile spoke out for a blue helmet mission to secure a possible future peace agreement in Ukraine. Such peace missions are “more necessary than ever and not only with a view to the European continent,” said the new president of the UN General Assembly of “Bild am Sonntag”.
