"We will not compromise on the security of our allies," French President Emmanuel Macron also commented on the dangerous incident."The Russian drone attack, which also entered Poland, is a test of NATO's defense capabilities and it is hard to believe that it is just a coincidence," Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said. According to him, Putin's regime threatens all of Europe and is systematically testing how far it can go without provoking a reaction.

The larger context

Unfortunately, provocations of this type are indeed expected, and at the present time. Most intelligence agencies of the countries on NATO's northeastern flank have long been warning of potential imminent hybrid attacks, as Russia and Belarus are preparing to hold the large-scale strategic exercise"West" in mid-September, and precisely near the border of Poland and Lithuania. Some special services even feared that the military maneuvers in question could be used as camouflage for a surprise operation similar to the Crimean"little green men" against Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - the three Baltic states - NATO members that are most vulnerable to possible Russian aggression. These countries could easily be cut off from the rest of the allied territory and be left without reinforcements on land if the possible aggressor quickly attacks and seizes the so-called. Suwałki Corridor - the nearly 100-kilometer border zone between Poland and Lithuania, which separates Belarus from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea coast.

According to the latest conclusions of Ukrainian military intelligence, however, during this year's Zapad exercise, the Russian and Belarusian armies did not concentrate a sufficiently large-scale group of troops to be able to launch a decisive offensive in any direction. However, this does not prevent Moscow and Minsk from testing NATO's patience, determination and"red lines" with actions on the verge of activating Article 5, which would mean an official outbreak of war. Probably on this occasion, in connection with the upcoming military maneuvers, Poland decided to temporarily close its border with Belarus. The Ukrainian military publication Defense Express claims that Russia has been preparing the current drone attack since July, integrating Polish and Lithuanian SIM cards into the drones to connect to the commercial 4G mobile network and transmit intelligence data about the country's air defense.