Rubio calls Russian drones over Poland ‘unacceptable’ but declines to say it was intentional | Marco Rubio
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that the Russian drone incursion in Polish airspace this week was unacceptable, but that Russia had deliberately sent drones to Polish territory. NATO announced the intention of strengthening the defense of the European eastern flank on Friday, after Poland killed the drones which had violated its airspace, the first known strokes drawn by a member of the Western Alliance during the Russian War in Ukraine.
“We believe that it is an unacceptable and unhappy and dangerous development,” Rubio told journalists before going on a trip to Israel and Great Britain.
“Undoubtedly on this subject: drones have been intentionally launched. The question is whether drones have been targeted to go to Poland specifically.”
Rubio said that if the drones had been intended for Poland, “if the evidence leads us there, then it will obviously be a highly climbing decision”.
“There are also a number of other possibilities, but I think we would like to have all the facts and consult our allies before taking specific determinations,” he added. Friday, Poland rejected Donald Trump’s suggestion that the incursions could have been a mistake, a rare contradiction from the American president of one of the European allies closest to Washington. His Minister of Foreign Affairs told Reuters that Poland hoped that Washington would take action to show solidarity with Warsaw. On Friday, at the United Nations, the United States called on violations of “alarming” airspace and promised to “defend every centimeter from the NATO territory”.
Russia said that its forces attacked Ukraine at the time of the drone incursions and that it did not intend to reach targets in Poland.
