‘Europe will defend every inch of its territory’: NATO chief, world leaders slam Russia’s ‘reckless’ drone incursion in Poland

After the Russian drone incursion in Polish airspace, NATO chief Mark Rutte on Wednesday (Sep 10) slammed Moscow’s “reckless behaviour”. It also hailed the alliance’s “very successful reaction” to counter the violation. The European Union and NATO members, including the US, UK, Germany, and France, have also condemned the overnight drone incursion by Russia. Meanwhile, Russia has said that it did not target Polish sites.

“A full assessment is ongoing. But of course, whether it was intentional or not, it is absolutely reckless, it is absolutely dangerous,” alliance chief Mark Rutte said following the emergency meeting of the NATO members on Wednesday.

He said that NATO’s “air defences were activated and successfully assured the defence of NATO territory, as they are designed to do.”

He further warned Putin to end the war in Ukraine and stop killing civilians and infrastructure. “To Putin, I mean, my message is clear: stop the war in Ukraine, stop the escalating war, which he is now basically mounting on innocent civilians and civilian infrastructure,” he said. “Stop violating allied airspace, and know that we stand ready, that we are vigilant, and that we will defend every inch of NATO territory.”

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen condemned the Russian drone incrusion, asserting its independence in a “hostile” world.

“Battle lines for a new world order based on power are being drawn right now,” she said. “So, yes, Europe must fight. For its place in a world in which many major powers are either ambivalent or openly hostile to Europe. This must be Europe's independence moment.”

“Just today, we have seen a reckless and unprecedented violation of Poland and Europe's airspace by more than 10 Russian Shahed drones,” von der Leyen said. “Europe will defend every inch of its territory.”

World leaders react

Condemning the Russian violation of Polish airspace, Germany on Wednesday said that Moscow was “testing” Ukraine’s allies. Calling it a “very serious” incident, German spokesman Sebastian Hille said that “there is absolutely no reason to believe that this was a course correction error or anything of the sort” as the drones “did not have to fly this route to reach Ukraine”. Germany’s foreign minister said that “we need to analyse where we are and what Russia's intentions were,” suggestive of confusion or lack of consensus among NATO members on how to deal with Russia.

The US ambassador to NATO said that Washington stands by its allies following the Russian drone incursion in Poland. “We stand by our NATO Allies in the face of these airspace violations and will defend every inch of NATO territory,” the US envoy to the alliance, Matthew Whitaker, wrote on X.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the incident “extremely reckless”, adding that the UK stands firm in its support for Ukraine. British defence minister John Healey said that the incursion “took this aggression to a new level of hostility”, as he held talks in London with defence officials from Poland, France, Italy and Germany.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that the Russian violation was “simply unacceptable” and urged Moscow to stop its “reckless behaviour.”

“The incursion of Russian drones into Polish airspace during a Russian attack on Ukraine is simply unacceptable,” Macron said on X. “I call on Russia to put an end to this reckless behaviour.”