Russian drones about Poland: NATO reacts to Russian drones with military surgery

After the presumably intentional airspace injuries by Russia, NATO has launched a new military operation to protect the eastern flank. This was announced by the commander -in -chief of the Allied forces in Europe, Alexus Grynkewich, in a press conference with general secretary Mark Rutte.

According to the information, the operation called “Eastern Sentry” (German for example: guardian of the East) should be used, among other things, additional surveillance and air defense capacities. A special focus is on military skills for drone defense.

Germany provides Eurofighter

Several NATO countries such as Germany had previously promised additional funds. In the future, the Bundeswehr will provide four instead of just two Eurofighter type to participate in armed protection flights over Poland. They are stationed on the air base in Rostock-Laage and should be available for air defense assignments in Polish airspace at least until the end of the year. France wants to provide three rafale fight jets for monitoring airspace on the eastern flank, Denmark two F-16 and a frigate.

The operation launched on Friday will be flexible and cover the entire eastern flank – from the far north to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, Grynkewich said. The successful model of Baltic Sentry is based on use to protect the critical underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.

Poland Defense Minister Vladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz thanked the defense alliance for the quick reaction. “This is an expression of the responsibility for the security of the entire eastern flank of the alliance. It is active deterrent and willingness to defend where this is necessary,” he wrote on X.

Russian provocation or test?

A Russian attack on Ukraine occurred at the same time on Wednesday. According to official information, more than ten Russian drones from the Shahed construction type flew into the airspace of Poland. Several of them were shot down. According to western politicians, there is indications that the airspace injury was not an oversight. So far, however, it is unclear whether the drones were programmed to destroy goals on NATO territory or possibly only as a provocation or test of NATO flight defense.

Poland had recently contradicted the assessment of US President Donald Trump, according to which the massive penetration of Russian drones in Polish airspace may be based on an error. “We would also like the drone attack on Poland to be a mistake. But it wasn’t. And we know that,” said Prime Minister Donald Tusk on X.

At a press conference, he added that Polen’s secret services and military had enough information about who was responsible. You know the authors, the starting point of the drones and the intention behind the campaign.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte did not want to commit to the topic on Friday evening. He said that new knowledge is gained every day and the evaluation is still running. Whether the airspace injuries had been deliberately or not, but also only play a limited role. “Russian drones have injured NATO, that is the decisive factor,” he said, naming this unacceptable.

Bundeswehr has Patriot system in Poland

According to NATO, the defense against the airspace injury on Wednesday, in addition to Polish F-16 fighting jets, Dutch F-35, Italian aircraft and German Patriot flight defense systems were involved. However, according to the Bundeswehr, a direct use of your own weapons, i.e. a loss of patriot steering aircraft, did not take place. The German contingent in Rzeszow, like other allies, also contributed to the overall position.