Russian drones ‘targeted NATO base in Poland’ in WW3 threat | World | News
World War 3 fears have erupted once again as Russian drones shot down over Poland yesterday are believed to have been targeted at a NATO base, reports suggest. In the early hours of Wednesday morning Polish, Dutch and Italian fighter jets scrambled to intercept a wave of Russian drones that had crossed the border from Belarus.
This marked the first-ever direct engagement between the Western alliance and Moscow and the first time since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 that NATO had directly engaged with Russian assets. An unnamed NATO officer, cited in a report by Germany’s Die Welt, said the drones were on a direct flight to a Polish NATO base, which was unnamed. This base is reportedly linked to the supply of military equipment to Ukraine.
The drone incursions prompted the closure of four airports in Poland, including Warsaw’s main hub Chopin.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Poland had recorded 19 drone incursions, with some flying deep enough to temporarily close four airports, including Warsaw’s main hub Chopin.
“This situation brings us the closest we have been to open conflict since World War Two,” he said. Russia’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday said it did not plan to attack any targets in Poland.
“The maximum range of the Russian drones that allegedly crossed into Poland does not exceed 700km (435 miles)”, the Russia‘s defence ministry said in a statement.
The incident caused Poland to invoke Article 4 of NATO, prompting immediate discussions over potential responses between members of the alliance.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said new economic measures against Moscow may be required to try to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the conflict.
Meawhile, President of Finland Alexsander Stubb, who met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday in Kyiv, said now “the line between war and peace has been blurred”.
The Kremlin said it had nothing to add to a Wednesday statement by Russia’s Defense Ministry, which insisted that Russian forces had not targeted Poland and that it was open to discuss the incident with Polish officials.
