Despite Moscow’s denials, it is difficult to interpret the successive incursions of Russian drones into Polish airspace during the night of Tuesday, September 9, and then into Romanian airspace on September 13, as anything other than a test.
The timing of these drone flights – which, in the Polish case, carried no explosive payloads and were therefore not intended for Ukraine – left little room for doubt. They occurred as Russia decided to intensify its bombardments against Kyiv, just weeks after the diplomatic success scored by the Kremlin leader, Vladimir Putin, who was hosted with full honors by his American counterpart, Donald Trump, in Anchorage, Alaska, without any concessions in return.
The drone intrusions were also recorded as Ukraine’s allies, gathered in a “coalition of the willing,” consider deploying a reassurance force of European soldiers on Ukrainian soil in the event of a ceasefire. Russia has stated that this would be a red line.
A Polish police officer near a drone fragment after Russian devices were shot down as they entered Polish airspace in Czesniki (Poland) on September 10, 2025. POLSAT NEWS VIA REUTERS
While the security guarantees rightly demanded by Kyiv in the event of a ceasefire were a source of disagreements between the Trump administration and European governments, Russia clearly attempted to press its advantage by now putting the alliance under pressure and testing its vulnerabilities. These overflights represented a further step in a calculated escalation, adding to the hybrid war that had been waged quietly for years.
The response from NATO members was only partially reassuring. The activation of Article 4, which provides for consultations among its members, and the coordination of the various forces mobilized during the two incursions could be considered satisfactory from an operational standpoint. But the extremely costly measures mobilized clearly revealed a lack of preparedness for the new threat posed by the intensive use of inexpensive drones, which have been perfected by both sides since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
This is not currently, however, the greatest threat to the alliance and its deterrence. The main weakness exposed by the Russian drone flights is political, stemming once again from the ambiguities of the president of the United States. Trump appeared reluctant to acknowledge the reality of these incursions or to consider their consequences, in contrast to his ambassador to NATO. Such hesitation risks undermining the founding principle of the alliance, namely the solidarity of its members in the face of any aggression. This is precisely Putin’s objective.
This situation should convince Europeans of the need to take charge of their own defense and dedicate the necessary resources, even if it requires difficult trade-offs. The announcement by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte of a new mission, called “Eastern Sentry,” aimed at providing greater flexibility to ensure the defense of the alliance’s eastern flank, is a first step in the right direction. It will rely on additional contributions from major European states, since no specific American effort has been announced.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.