NATO nations pledge to defend Poland after Russian drones shot down : NPR

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

Greater than a dozen Russian drones entered the airspace of Poland final evening, triggering NATO to scramble fighter jets to shoot them down. It was a harmful escalation of the battle in neighboring Ukraine, and it was the primary time within the historical past of NATO that alliance fighters engaged enemy plane in allied airspace. NPR’s Rob Schmitz has been protecting this, and he joins us from Berlin. Hello.

ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE: Hey, Juana.

SUMMERS: Rob, what will we find out about these drones and why they had been flying within the airspace of a NATO member?

SCHMITZ: Yeah, we all know this occurred the identical evening as a large-scale drone and missile assault that Russia launched on Ukraine. Ukraine’s air power says greater than 400 Russian drones had been concerned in final evening’s assault, together with areas in western Ukraine that border Poland. We’re nonetheless not sure concerning the precise variety of Russian drones that flew into Polish airspace, however Poland’s authorities believes it was greater than a dozen and as many as 19. And as soon as these drones crossed into Poland, NATO scrambled fighter jets. That included Polish F-16s, Dutch F-35s, German Patriot air protection techniques and even an Italian surveillance plane. And a lot of these drones had been then shot down.

SUMMERS: Had been these drones armed? Had been they concentrating on NATO territory?

SCHMITZ: Nicely, in line with German Protection Minister Boris Pistorius, these drones had been intentionally set on this course into Poland and that they had been armed with ammunition, however he didn’t elaborate on what precisely their payloads had been.

SUMMERS: Now, Poland’s authorities invoked Article 4 of the NATO treaty, and that is a not often used mechanism. It is triggered when a member state is below menace, and it permits an emergency assembly with different NATO states. So inform us, how’s NATO responding?

SCHMITZ: Nicely, NATO Secretary Basic Mark Rutte spoke this afternoon to reporters, and he stated NATO has launched an investigation to collect extra particulars about this incursion. However he used right this moment’s incident to underline the necessity for Europe to begin arming itself. Here is what he stated.

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MARK RUTTE: This solely reinforces the significance of NATO and the trail to which allies agreed at our summit in The Hague earlier this 12 months. We have to make investments extra in our protection, ramp up protection manufacturing, so we now have what we have to deter and defend. And we have to proceed to assist Ukraine, whose safety is interlinked with our personal.

SCHMITZ: And, Juana, he additionally had a message for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He stated that Putin should cease this battle in Ukraine, he should cease concentrating on harmless civilians and that he should cease violating allied airspace.

SUMMERS: How has Russia responded thus far?

SCHMITZ: Yeah, it has been a little bit of a blended response. Earlier right this moment, an official from Russia’s ally and Poland’s neighbor, Belarus, appeared to border final evening’s incident as an accident that was prompted when the drones veered astray after encountering what they known as digital interference. In different phrases, it was an accident.

However afterward, Russia’s protection ministry then stated it had not deliberate to hit any targets in Poland and instructed that Poland was out of vary of Russian drones, which isn’t true. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov additionally weighed in. He accused the management of the EU and NATO of creating accusations in opposition to Russia on what he known as a day by day foundation with out offering proof. However Peskov stopped in need of denying Russian involvement.

SUMMERS: Rob, what comes subsequent?

SCHMITZ: Yeah, so NATO members have already met right this moment, and the alliance will examine this case additional. You recognize, it is value stating right here that this incursion occurred a day after Poland stated that it had closed its border with Belarus attributable to what it known as aggressive army workout routines, in addition to a rising variety of provocations from each Russia and Belarus. So the state of affairs alongside that border has been fairly tense for fairly a while already.

SUMMERS: NPR’s Rob Schmitz in Berlin. Thanks, Rob.

SCHMITZ: Thanks.

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