After a swarm of 19 Russian drones breached Polish airspace, prompting Nato fighter jets to intercept and shoot down several of the projectiles, experts on Thursday said the incursions were no mistake but a calculated move that signals a dangerous shift in Vladimir Putin\u2019s strategy, according to a Financial Times report.<\/p>\n
If the Russian president\u2019s aim was to test Nato\u2019s air defences, the outcome likely pleased him, said the report, citing experts who warned it may embolden him to go further next time.<\/p>\n
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD<\/p>\n
The incident marks the first direct military engagement between Nato and Russian forces since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three-and-a-half years ago, opening a perilous new chapter in the ongoing conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Moscow) will have taken note that we have still not learned from what Ukraine has been dealing with for years,\u201d FT quoted Ben Hodges, former commanding general of the US Army in Europe, as saying.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are absolutely not prepared for that\u2009.\u2009.\u2009. and now they are at our door,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Hodges emphasised the need for Europe to develop a multi-layered, integrated air defence system capable of assessing the scale of an incoming attack and deploying appropriate resources \u2014 in contrast to Wednesday morning\u2019s response, where expensive fighter jets like Dutch F-35s were dispatched to take down low-cost drones.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was not an accident, obviously, given the number of drones,” Hodges was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a rehearsal. To probe, and find out how good are our early warning systems, what are our reaction times,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto called the drone incursion \u201ca deliberate attack\u201d that \u201chad two purposes: to provoke and to test\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoscow is deliberately fuelling an escalation that no one wants, \u201cCrosetto said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is evident that it has no interest in a truce or peace,\u201d Crosetto added.<\/p>\n
An Italian surveillance aircraft supported the fighter jets that shot down Russian drones on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD<\/p>\n
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said only four of the estimated 19 drones that entered Polish airspace were intercepted, as they posed a direct threat. The Polish military said most of the drones were decoys \u2014 a tactic Russia often uses to exhaust Ukraine\u2019s air defences before launching actual strikes.<\/p>\n
Nato has admitted that air defences on its eastern flank remain a weak point in urgent need of investment.<\/p>\n
Secretary-General Mark Rutte praised the alliance\u2019s \u201cvery successful reaction\u201d and reaffirmed Nato\u2019s commitment to defend \u201cevery inch of allied territory.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to invest more\u2009.\u2009.\u2009. so we have what we need to deter and defend,\u201d FT quoted Rutte as saying.<\/p>\n
The drone assault was part of a broader Russian attack on Ukraine involving missiles and drones, following earlier incidents where Russian projectiles briefly entered Nato airspace but were not intercepted.<\/p>\n
A Polish arms industry official told the Financial Times that most of the drones identified were \u201cGerbera\u201d \u2014 Iranian-designed Shahed drones without warheads, used as decoys ahead of missile strikes.<\/p>\n
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD<\/p>\n
Polish officials believe the decoys were deliberately routed through Poland to bypass Ukrainian air defences near the western city of Lviv, ahead of a second wave of armed Shaheds targeting the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne drone, what we have seen so far, may be a mistake,\u201d FT quoted the arms industry official as saying. But \u201c19 drones is not a mistake\u201d.<\/p>\n
Tusk told parliament that several drones had been launched from Belarus, which is set to host the large-scale Zapad military exercise with Russia starting Friday near the Polish and Lithuanian borders.<\/p>\n
Germany \u201cimmediately increased the alert level\u201d and provided data from its two Patriot air defence systems near Rzesz\u00f3w, about 100km from Ukraine, according to its defence ministry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat this teaches us is\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009that we are under constant threat from provocations from Russian armed forces,\u201d German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius told parliament.<\/p>\n
Poland and the Baltic states are already on high alert ahead of the \u201cvery aggressive\u201d Zapad drills, which simulate a joint response to a Nato attack.<\/p>\n
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Tusk ordered a full closure of Poland\u2019s border with Belarus.<\/p>\n
Previous Zapad drills have simulated a nuclear strike on Warsaw, and the 2021 edition preceded Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
According to Financial Times, citing analysts, this year\u2019s exercise aims to test Nato\u2019s reactions, showcase Russia\u2019s military strength despite setbacks in Ukraine, and keep Nato\u2019s eastern members in a state of anxiety.<\/p>\n
Russian officials have ramped up hostile rhetoric, accusing Nato neighbours of aggression to justify possible retaliation.<\/p>\n
In a Tass op-ed, Dmitry Medvedev accused Finland of \u201cpursuing a confrontational course of preparation for war with Russia.\u201d On Sunday, Nikolai Patrushev claimed the West had turned the Baltic Sea into an \u201carena for undeclared hybrid war.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tusk said the current situation is not \u201ca state of war\u201d but \u201csignificantly more dangerous than all previous ones.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Polish arms industry official said the drone attack aimed to \u201ccreate a division in Nato between people who say \u2018we must respond and help Poland\u2019 and those who say \u2018relax, they are just testing us, it\u2019s no big deal\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD<\/p>\n
Former Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis likened the drone incursion to past Russian sabotage on European soil.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are trying to set a new reality… Now imagine the same thing with drones. They do it once, we don\u2019t react\u2009.\u2009.\u2009. and then there\u2019s another attack, maybe not in Poland, maybe in Romania, maybe in Lithuania,\u201d he was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n
With inputs from agencies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a swarm of 19 Russian drones breached Polish airspace, prompting Nato fighter jets to intercept and shoot…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[28829,1111,2595,142669,2000,299,142667,5187,2821,770,2046,332,657,142668],"class_list":{"0":"post-415798","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-air-defence","9":"tag-belarus","10":"tag-drones","11":"tag-escalation","12":"tag-eu","13":"tag-europe","14":"tag-europe-scratches-its-head-trying-to-decode-russias-new-game-plan","15":"tag-european","16":"tag-nato","17":"tag-poland","18":"tag-putin","19":"tag-russia","20":"tag-ukraine","21":"tag-zapad"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115185730441019553","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}