NATO struggles for unity on response to Russian drone incursions

The NATO Secretary General appeared to diverge from Poland’s stance following renewed Russian drone violations of Polish airspace this month.

Secretary General Mark Rutte emphasized this week that NATO and Poland are united on how to address drone incursions over allied territory, even as Warsaw pledged to independently shoot down “objects” entering its skies without authorization. Still, as The War Zone highlighted, Rutte also remarked that “it doesn’t mean that we will always immediately shoot down a plane.”

Earlier this month, NATO fighter jets downed Russian drones in Polish airspace, an incident that triggered the launch of the Eastern Sentry operation to reinforce defences on the alliance’s eastern flank. The effort primarily involves the deployment of British, Danish, French, and German “assets.”

Polish officials, however, have indicated they will take stronger measures going forward. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, “We will make a decision to shoot down flying objects without discussion when they violate our territory and fly over Poland.”

Rutte acknowledged Tusk’s statement, saying, “I think what [Tusk] he said is that, if necessary, yes, we will shoot down a plane,” but declined to clarify whether Warsaw can act independently or must follow NATO’s shared rules of engagement across its 32 members.

At a September 22 emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski issued a blunt warning: “If another missile or aircraft enters our space without permission, deliberately or by mistake, and gets shot down and the wreckage falls on NATO territory, please don’t come here to whine about it.”

Meanwhile, Lithuania’s parliament this week approved legislation allowing its armed forces to shoot down drones breaching its airspace, Reuters reported.

Former NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen also weighed in, urging Europe to immediately build a continent-wide drone defence barrier. “Russian drones enter our skies. We complain. They return. We delay. They escalate. We hesitate. Enough,” he said. “[I]f we don’t stop Moscow’s tests, one day they won’t be tests,” he wrote on X.

By Nazrin Sadigova