U.S. says it will defend ‘every inch’ of NATO territory after Poland shoots down Russian drones
The United States has sworn on Friday to defend “every centimeter of NATO territory”, after a number of alleged Russian drones entered Polish airspace during an attack on Ukraine.
Tensions were raised across Europe while leaders condemned the violation of airspace on Wednesday – a first since the Moscow’s large -scale invasion of his neighbor in February 2022 – as the last sign of Kremlin climbing, which postponed President Donald Trump’s attempt to negotiate discussions on peace.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said it was “the closest that we were to open conflicts since the Second World War”, but Moscow minimized the incident, saying that he did not intend to target “in Poland.
Trump said on Thursday that the alleged drone of Russia in Poland could have been a mistake, but his acting American ambassador Dorothy Shea seemed to be trying to reassure Washington NATO allies on Friday after Trump’s remarks.
The violation of the airspace of an American ally, “intentionally or otherwise”, showed “an immense lack of respect for good faith efforts for the United States to end this conflict,” she told the United Nations Security Council.
“The United States is subject to our NATO allies in the face of these alarming airspace violations,” she said. “And rest assured, we will defend every centimeter from NATO territory.”
Poland and the United States are members of NATO, which, to its heart, is a mutual defense pact formed after the Second World War to cope with the threat posed by the Soviet Union, which means that an attack on a can be considered an attack on all.
NATO launched the “Eastern Sentry” operation on Friday to strengthen the defense of the European eastern flank in response to strikes, which saw the drones slaughtered using the NATO allies.
“We owe, as NATO, clearly our determination and our ability to defend our territory, and this is exactly what Sentry is designed to do,” said NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte, at a press conference at the organization’s headquarters in Brussels.
Rutte made this announcement alongside the biggest NATO commander, Air Force General Alexus Gynkewich, who said that military activity would begin in the coming days, involving “a range of allies assets, including Denmark, France, the United Kingdom, Germany and others”.
Rutte said NATO still weighed the possible intention behind the alleged foray, but called “reckless and unacceptable” action, whether intentional or not.
NATO already has substantial assets in Eastern Europe, including thousands of troops.
He did not specify how many additional troops would be involved in the new operation.
Moscow has intensified its bombing of Ukrainian cities and infrastructure since Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a peace summit in Alaska almost a month ago.
European allies have said that these large -scale air attacks indicate that Putin has no interest in putting an end to the war in Ukraine.
