Russian drones force Europe to defend itself, perhaps alone

Brussels: Since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, NATO has focused on trying to deter an attack on its own territory and avoid all-out war with nuclear armed Russia. Now the time has come for NATO to defend itself, and European allies might have to do it alone, experts and leaders say.

As it has attacked Ukraine, Russia has incessantly harassed Kyiv’s European backers. Warplanes and ships have breached NATO airspace and waters. Transport and communications networks have been sabotaged. Putin opponents poisoned in Europe. Disinformation campaigns have sought to undermine support and weaken unity.

But the flight of multiple Russian drones over Poland this week marks a clear escalation, experts say. NATO responded with overwhelming force. Cheap drones were shot down with high-tech military kit and top line F-35 jets were deployed. A costly exercise.

Russia’s armed forces said they weren’t targeting Poland. Belarus suggested the drones veered off course, perhaps due to jamming. It’s “unclear what more – if anything – the US is willing to do to strengthen NATO air defences. So far, we’ve seen Europeans operating US platforms without a direct American military role,” NATO’s longest-serving spokesperson Oana Lungescu, now an expert at the RUSI think tank, said on social media.

NATO relies on US leadership, but the Trump administration insists that Europe must now take care of its own security, and that of Ukraine.

President Donald Trump has said that it “could have been a mistake.” Trump’s ambiguity about defending Europe has undermined trust at NATO, despite the alliance’s attempts to project unity at a summit in July. “We would also wish that the drone attack on Poland was a mistake. But it wasn’t. And we know it,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted on X on Friday. After a meeting of the Polish National Security Council on Thursday, Tusk said: “We would all prefer that the biggest ally spoke openly and publicly about this incident, but let’s not be picky, we must also get accustomed to the new situation. For Putin, it’s as good a time as any to test NATO’s resolve. To the dismay of Ukraine and European allies, Trump dropped his demands for an immediate ceasefire at his summit with Russia’s leader in Alaska last month, preferring a broader deal to end the war.