'Here we go!' Trump asks 'what's with Russia violating Poland's airspace?' as he reacts to Putin's drones being shot down, 'moving Europe its closest to war since WW2'
Donald Trump wrote 'Here we go!' in a foreboding message as he reacted to NATO members shooting down Russian drones violating Polish airspace overnight.
'What's with Russia violating Poland's airspace with drones?' he asked rhetorically on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday. 'Here we go!'
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said today that Poland had identified 19 violations and shot down at least three drones overnight, blaming Russia.
'There is no doubt that this provocation is incomparably more dangerous from Poland's point of view than any previous ones,' he said.
'This situation brings us all closer to open conflict, closer than at any time since the Second World War.'
Poland invoked NATO's Article 4, under which any member can call urgent talks when it feels its 'territorial integrity, political independence or security' are at risk.
Russia denied responsibility, before its defence ministry said it was 'ready' for talks with Poland over what it called the 'alleged' drone incursion.
The military said it had 'no plans to target facilities in Poland', while stopping short of an outright denial. It offered to hold 'consultations' with Poland's defence ministry.
US President Donald Trump in Washington on September 9, 2025
Police secure parts of a damaged UAV shot down by Polish authorities at a site in Wohyn, Poland, Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Photos show the extent of damage to a house in Poland after Putin's drones were flown in
Against Russia's rebuttal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that the airspace violation was a 'dangerous precedent' for Europe, saying it was 'no accident'.
He brandished the incursion, which damaged a house and a car, an attempt to 'humiliate' Poland, and called for a strong response from NATO.
'Russia must feel that the response to this escalatory step, and even more so to an attempt to humiliate one of Europe's key countries, will be clear and strong from all partners,' Zelensky said.
Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski also said on Wednesday that the intrusion was 'not an accidental event'.
'We have no doubt that this was not an accidental event,' Sikorski told reporters.
'We are dealing with an unprecedented case of an attack not only on Poland's territory but also on the territory of NATO and the European Union,' he added.
Sikorski said that Russian drones had veered into Polish airspace before, but said this situation was different.
'When one or two drones do it, it is possible that it was a technical malfunction,' he said.
'But as I told you, in this case, there were 19 breaches, and it simply defies imagination that that could be accidental.'
Russia's defence ministry denied targeting Poland and its foreign ministry accused Warsaw of spreading 'myths' to escalate the war in Ukraine.
The military said 'there had been no plans to target facilities on the territory of Poland'.
The Russian embassy in Warsaw separately told AFP that 'Poland has failed to provide evidence of the Russian origin of the objects that entered Polish airspace'.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: 'We wouldn't like to comment on this.
'This is not for us to do so. It's a matter for the [Russian] defence ministry.'
Multiple Russian drones moving from Ukrainian airspace into Poland
Fragments of the drone are seen in the village of Wohyn in eastern Poland
US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting on religious liberty in education at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, on September 8, 2025
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Wednesday, September 10
Poland has nonetheless called on its allies for support. While Tusk said he appreciates expressions of solidarity, he said 'the words are not enough'.
Poland will request 'much greater' support from its allies, he said, writing on X: 'Actions speak louder than words.'
The shape support could take is not yet clear. Britain's defence secretary said that he has asked the UK Armed Forces to 'look at options to bolster NATO's air defence over Poland'.
John Healey said the incursion took Russia's aggression to 'a new level of hostility'.
European partners on the continent have responded sharply to Russia's 'recklessness'.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned Russia for sending drones into NATO member Poland in a 'reckless action' that he said had threatened lives.
'Russia has endangered human lives in a state that is a member of NATO and the EU,' Merz said in a statement.
'This reckless action is part of a long chain of provocations in the Baltic Sea region and on NATO's eastern flank. The German government condemns this aggressive Russian action in the strongest possible terms.'
German government spokesman Sebastian Hille earlier said Moscow was 'testing' Ukraine's allies with the violation of Polish airspace, which he called a 'very serious' incident.
Hille said it 'once again shows the threat that we face' and how much Germany and other NATO countries 'are being tested by Russia'.
Defence Minister Boris Pistorius told parliament the drones were 'clearly set on this course' and 'did not have to fly this route to reach Ukraine'.
'There is absolutely no reason to believe that this was a course correction error or anything of the sort,' Pistorius said.
Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Minister Kestutis Budrys told Reuters that Russia's drone incursions into NATO members risks escalating into 'exchange [of] the use of military power against each other', while avoiding the word 'conflict'.
'We have a strong interest - probably the strongest and biggest one - to avoid these scenarios... Scenarios like we are getting in some situations where we exchange the use of military power against each other', he said when asked whether such incidents risk dragging NATO into direct conflict with Russia.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney agreed, condemning Russia's incursion as 'reckless and escalatory', and said Ottawa was closely coordinating with its NATO allies.
Carney said in a statement that the incident showed the need to increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war on Ukraine.
'We will remain vigilant against Russia's attempts to widen and prolong the conflict with Ukraine. Putin is demonstrating once again his total disregard for the path of peace,' he said.
Mr Tusk said today he had invoked NATO's Article 4 under which any member can call urgent talks when it feels its 'territorial integrity, political independence or security' are at risk - only the eighth time the measure has ever been used.
The incident has pushed tensions with an increasingly emboldened Vladimir Putin into uncharted territory, with NATO chief Mark Rutte vowing that 'we will defend every inch of NATO territory'.
The Polish PM met with top officials after the stand-off and relayed that the drones were shot down in a joint effort with NATO allies. He said that Poland was in communication with allies.
The North Atlantic Council, NATO's main political decision-making body, also changed the format of its weekly meeting on Wednesday, holding it under Article 4 of the alliance treaty.
A cornerstone of the Western military alliance is the principle that an attack on any member is deemed an attack on all.
According to Polish sources, the drones were 'suitably armed', Pistorius said. 'So something could have happened at any time.'
Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Russia had 'carelessly risked a dangerous escalation' with drones entering Polish airspace 'on a significant scale'.
He added: 'Russia must know that NATO is capable of action and that it will react to defend NATO territory.'
Polish television channel TV Republika shared this image of one of the downed drones
The home belongs to an elderly couple, according to local media, who were sleeping inside when the drone struck
Donald Tusk said on X that the drones that 'intruded' on Polish airspace could have posed a threat
Sir Keir Starmer condemned the 'egregious and unprecedented violation of Polish and NATO airspace by Russian drones'.
He said: 'This morning's barbaric attack on Ukraine and the egregious and unprecedented violation of Polish and NATO airspace by Russian drones is deeply concerning.
'This was an extremely reckless move by Russia and only serves to remind us of President Putin's blatant disregard for peace, and the constant bombardment innocent Ukrainians face every day.'
He also said he had been in contact with the Polish leader to offer support.
Poland's interior ministry said today that it had found seven drones and the remains of an unidentified object in sites across the country.
