"It might have been a mistake": With these words, US President Donald Trump responded to the intrusion of Russian drones into Polish airspace. The reactions from Poland were brief but unequivocal.
US President Donald Trump has been cautious about the intrusion of Russian drones into Polish airspace. He did not rule out an oversight by Moscow:"It could have been a mistake," Trump told reporters on Thursday. He said he was not happy with the entire situation, however."But hopefully, it will end soon."
The statement sparked sharp criticism. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk dismissed Trump's speculation."We would also like the drone attack on Poland to have been a mistake," Tusk wrote on the online service X on Friday."But it wasn't. And we know that."
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski also wrote on the X portal: “No, it was not a mistake.”
The Polish government is certain that this was a targeted attack and that the drones were not diverted from their course by technical malfunctions caused by Ukrainian air defenses. With"one or two drones," an error could still be considered, Polish Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk wrote to Trump on X. But with"19 drones launched from areas under Russian control," it could only be a "deliberate attack on Poland and NATO's eastern flank."
Kremlin critic and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov commented: "As I predicted, Trump is calling this a mistake faster than even the Kremlin!" He called Trump a "Russian ally." Anyone who believes the US president "will defend NATO states is living in a fantasy world. Europe has already missed a dozen warning signs, and soon it won't just be Ukrainian civilians who lose their lives."
Yaroslav Trofimov, the Wall Street Journal's chief foreign policy correspondent, wrote on X:"Putin's first military provocation against NATO was met with a public shrug from the White House. This virtually guarantees an escalation from Russia."
Trump and his cryptic “Let’s go” message
On Wednesday night, at least 19 Russian drones penetrated the airspace of the EU and NATO member Poland, some hundreds of kilometers away. At least three of them were shot down. Warsaw and other NATO countries, including Germany, condemned the incidents as a deliberate provocation against the entire Western military alliance. The Kremlin rejected the allegations.
Following the incident, Trump had so far only commented in a brief message on his Truth Social portal."What about Russia violating Polish airspace with drones?" Trump wrote in a short message on his online service Truth Social on Wednesday. He added:"Let's go!" What Trump meant by this remained unclear. According to the White House, the US president wanted to speak by phone with Polish President Karol Nawrocki about the incident.
In response to the drone incident, Germany announced it would intensify surveillance of the airspace over Poland. The number of Eurofighter aircraft deployed will be doubled from two to four, the German Ministry of Defense announced. Their deployment will also be extended until the end of December. Poland restricted air traffic along its eastern border as a security measure, while France will provide three Rafale fighter jets to monitor NATO's eastern border.
Since the beginning of the war, Poland and the NATO states in the Baltics have repeatedly reported violations of their airspace by Russian drones. However, never before have so many drones entered the airspace of a NATO member, and this is also the first time that Russian drones have been shot down.
