{"id":419167,"date":"2025-09-12T19:04:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T19:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/419167\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T19:04:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T19:04:13","slug":"france-germany-and-denmark-pledge-jets-to-boost-polands-defences-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/419167\/","title":{"rendered":"France, Germany and Denmark pledge jets to boost Poland\u2019s defences \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

France, Germany and Denmark will contribute fighter jets and other military assets to an enhanced defence of Poland against future Russian drone incursions, Nato<\/a> leaders announced at a press conference on Friday.<\/p>\n

The UK is also expected to contribute to the Eastern Sentry mission, which will gradually be expanded across from the Arctic in the north to the Black Sea and Mediterranean in the south to better tackle Russian drones and missiles.<\/p>\n

Mark Rutte<\/a>, Nato\u2019s secretary general, said: \u201cIn addition to more traditional military capabilities, this effort will also feature elements designed to address the particular challenges associated with the use of drones.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the early hours of Wednesday, 21 Russian drones, thought to be unarmed decoys, crossed the border into Poland. One drone flew 160 miles into the country in an incident that forced the closure of four airports.<\/p>\n

At the time, US president Donald Trump said the incursion \u201ccould have been a mistake\u201d but added: \u201cRegardless, I\u2019m not happy about anything having to do with that whole situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polish leaders were more certain. Donald Tusk, the country\u2019s prime minister, posted on social media in English: \u201cWe would also wish that the drone attack on Poland was a mistake. But it wasn\u2019t. And we know it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRussia\u2019s recklessness in the air along our eastern flank is increasing in frequency,\u201d Mr Rutte said. \u201cWe have seen drones violate our airspace in Romania, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania; whether intentional or not, it is dangerous and unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Standing alongside him was Nato\u2019s most senior military chief, Gen Alexus Grynkewich, who said Nato engaged in \u201ca highly successful operation\u201d, intercepting the drones with F-35 fighters from the Netherlands, but added: \u201cWe always learn something in the debrief.\u201d<\/p>\n

The American commander suggested it was the number of Russian drones that raised questions. The \u201cscale of the incursion\u201d was \u201cobviously larger than previous incursions that we\u2019ve had\u201d and \u201cbringing additional resources to bear on this problem will help solve that\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Poland \u2018closest to open conflict since World War Two\u2019, says Tusk after drone incidentOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Denmark will contribute two F-16 jets and an anti-air warfare frigate to the effort, France three Rafale fighters and Germany four Typhoons. Nato military planners said the UK \u201chas also expressed its willingness to support\u201d the effort.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the UK defence secretary John Healey said he had asked the British military to look at options for enhanced support for Poland amid hints from officials that the deployment of up to six Typhoons was under consideration.<\/p>\n

Russia, meanwhile, said that peace talks had stalled. Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin\u2019s spokesperson, told reporters: \u201cOur negotiators have the opportunity to communicate through channels. But for now, it is probably more accurate to talk about a pause.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Kyiv, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said there was no sign that Russia\u2019s ambitions to dominate its neighbour had changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutin\u2019s goal is to occupy all of Ukraine. And no matter what he tells anyone, it is clear that he has set the war machine in motion to such an extent that he simply cannot stop it unless he is forced to fundamentally change his personal goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Britain'sBritain’s foreign secretary Yvette Cooper and Ukraine’s foreign minister Andriy Sybiga at the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen for Ukraine in Kyiv. Photograph: Valentyn Ogirenko\/Pool\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

The Ukrainian leader also welcomed Mr Trump\u2019s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, to Kyiv and said he was willing to offer him citizenship because Russia does not bomb the capital when he is visiting. Some believe this follows direct requests made by the White House to the Kremlin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Keith Kellogg is in Kyiv, the residents of Kyiv can sleep soundly. Thank you. I would like you to visit all cities in Ukraine,\u201d Mr Zelenskiy said. \u201cI am ready to grant Gen Kellogg citizenship. We can give him an apartment \u2013 anything he needs, if it will prompt Russia to cease fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yvette Cooper, the UK foreign secretary, was also in Kyiv on Friday, her first foreign trip since she was appointed last week during a cabinet reshuffle. Ms Cooper said her visit, which was accompanied by an announcement of a new package of British sanctions on Russia, was intended to reiterate British support for Kyiv.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UK will not stand idly by as Putin continues his barbaric invasion of Ukraine,\u201d she said. \u201cInternational action to increase economic pressure on Russia and to cut off critical cash flows which he desperately needs to pay for this illegal war is vital.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2013 Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France, Germany and Denmark will contribute fighter jets and other military assets to an enhanced defence of Poland…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[2000,299,1824,69751,770,9041],"class_list":{"0":"post-419167","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-germany","11":"tag-north-atlantic-treaty-organisation-nato","12":"tag-poland","13":"tag-ukraine-crisis"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115192887398589313","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419167","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=419167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}