Russia appears in NATO skies. On 10 September, 19 Russian drones entered Polish airspace. At least three were shot down by NATO aircraft, while the others crashed to the ground without any casualties.
The incursion prompted some member states of the Atlantic Alliance to send anti-aircraft equipment to the countries most exposed on the bloc’s eastern border, notably Poland and Lithuania. Another drone was also spotted a few days later over Romania, the second NATO country to be flown over in this way.
While Moscow denies having acted deliberately, doubts remain as to its real intentions. Was it a mistake, collateral damage from the war in Ukraine, or a deliberate act? Within NATO, however, the consensus is clear: while conducting large-scale joint military exercises with its Belarusian ally, Russia deliberately targeted Poland in order to test the country’s defenses and determination to respond.
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