NATO could spark all-out war with Russia if it shoots down drones over Ukraine, Moscow warns as Europe bolsters its borders amid invasion fears
Russia's belligerent former president today warned of full-scale war with NATO if the military alliance continues to shoot down Moscow's drones.
Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev, now Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, said that any attempts to introduce a no-fly zone over Ukraine, and the ability for NATO countries to shoot down Russian UAVs, would 'mean only one thing - a war between NATO and Russia'.
Medvedev wrote on Telegram that he was 'amused' by Europe's 'Eastern Sentry' mission, a plan involving to contribute fighter jets and military materiel towards enhancing Poland's defences against future drone incursions, announced Friday.
'It seems that this is all that is left of the 'coalition of the willing',' Medvedev wrote.
While Russia denies targeting Poland, several European countries have stepped up their support for defending Polish airspace in response.
France, Germany and Denmark will all contribute to the plan, NATO leaders announced on Friday. The UK's Ministry of Defence said it was 'fully committed to playing our part' in bolstering defences and said it would confirm details soon.
After Poland accused Russia of an unprecedented and deliberate incursion of drones last week, Romania was forced to scramble jets late Saturday, reporting its airspace had been breached by a Russian drone.
Also Saturday, Poland said it and its NATO allies had deployed helicopters and aircraft as Russian drones struck Ukraine not far from its border.
Poland's foreign minister has said last week's incursion was an attempt by Moscow to test NATO's military response. Radosław Sikorski said NATO should also start shooting down Russian drones and missiles over Ukraine.
Damage to a house in Poland after Russian drones flew into Polish airspace last week
Fragments of a drone are seen in the village of Wohyn in eastern Poland on September 10
FILE PHOTO: Dmitry Medvedev in Dubna, Russia, on June 13, 2024
'We need to think about this. Technically, we, as NATO and the EU, would be capable of doing this, but it is not a decision that Poland can make alone, only together with its allies,' he told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky branded the latest incursions into NATO territory 'an obvious expansion of the war by Russia'.
What was required in response were fresh sanctions against Russia and a collective defence system, Zelensky argued.
'Do not wait for dozens of "shaheds" and ballistic missiles before finally making decisions,' he warned, referring to the Iranian-designed Shahed drones Russia is using.
Just weeks after hosting an historic summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska towards agreeing a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday warned that he was now willing to impose heavy sanctions on Moscow.
'Europe is buying oil from Russia. I don't want them to buy oil,' Trump told reporters on Sunday.
'And the sanctions ... that they're putting on are not tough enough, and I'm willing to do sanctions, but they're going to have to toughen up their sanctions commensurate with what I'm doing.'
In a letter to alliance members published on his Truth Social network, he wrote: 'I am ready to do major sanctions on Russia when all NATO nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO nations stop buying oil from Russia.'
Ukrainian rescuers working at the site of drone strikes on infrastructure in the Nizhyn district of Chernihiv region, Ukraine, overnight 15 September 2025
Armored vehicles taking part in the Zapad-2025 joint military drills between Russia and Belarus at an undisclosed location in Belarus
He said the oil purchases by fellow NATO states were 'shocking' and argued that it 'greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia'.
He said he believes ending Russian oil purchases would help bring an end to what he termed a 'ridiculous war'.
The European Commission is now also weighing up potential routes to sending billions of euros of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine without technically expropriating the assets themselves. Almost 200 billion euros were frozen in the wake of the 2022 invasion.
Meanwhile, Russia and Belarus launched a major joint military exercise on NATO's eastern frontier on Friday.
The Zapad ('West') 2025 drills will be held until Tuesday, September 16.
Troops will practice 'planning the use of' nuclear weapons and the new nuclear-capable Oreshnik ballistic missiles that Moscow has promised to station in Belarus.
Poland, Lithuania and Latvia have in turn ramped up security, with Poland ordering the complete closure of its border with Belarus for the duration of the drills.
European allies fear they could be used to rehearse an invasion of Europe, after 2021's drills saw a huge build up of forces used to attack Ukraine months later.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned of 'critical days' ahead as he sent 40,000 troops to his country's border and pulled barbed wire and barricades across roads.
He said Poland was closer to 'open conflict' than at any point since World War II, after Poland and allies scrambled jets to down drones in Polish airspace early Wednesday.
Germany's chief of defence Carsten Breuer said that NATO would 'be on our guard' around the drills as NATO chief Mark Rutte said Russia was rapidly rearming.
Rutte warned that coordinated attacks from Russia in Europe and China in Asia could trigger World War Three, Putin distracting NATO with an assault in Europe.
A Russian tank takes part in the drills near NATO's eastern border during Zapad 2025 drills
President Zelensky on Sunday claimed Ukrainian troops were still advancing in border districts of northern Sumy region, where Russian troops have tried for months to establish a foothold.
Zelensky, speaking in his nightly video address, also quoted Ukraine's top commander as saying Moscow's forces had suffered significant losses in Donetsk and Kharkiv regions along the 1,000-km (620-mile) frontline.
Zelensky was speaking after a week of Russian statements underscoring what Moscow described as gains in central Dnipropetrovsk region.
Russian troops are engaged in a slow push across eastern Ukraine, with nearly daily announcements of captured villages.
Moscow has annexed four regions it has partially occupied -- Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson -- but not Dnipropetrovsk where it has so far said it has taken a string of villages along the edge of its administrative border.
'There are good results in border areas of Sumy region,' Zelenskiy said, citing top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi. 'Our units are continuing to advance in the direction of Ukraine's state border.'
Since evicting Ukrainian forces from Russia's Kursk region earlier this year, Russian troops have tried to set up what the Kremlin calls a buffer zone in Sumy region.
Russia regularly shells larger towns, including the city of Sumy.
FILE PHOTO: Pilots of the Romanian Air Force fly F-16 fighter jets above the runway of the Aurel Vlaicu airport at the Bucharest International Air Show, Aug. 30, 2025
Zelenskiy said Russian forces had suffered notable losses near Kupiansk, an area in northeast Kharkiv region under sustained Russian pressure for months.
'We continue to operate in the Dobropillia direction,' he said, referring to a town near Pokrovsk, one of the focal points of Russia's long-running drive through Donetsk region. 'It is important that Russian assaults are being repelled by our boys.'
The Russia-appointed head of parts of Donetsk region under Moscow's control, Denis Pushilin, said in a video posted online that Russian forces were pressing on with a pincer movement near villages around Pokrovsk.
Further to the west, the governor of Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Telegram that two people had died in shelling and drone attacks in different parts of the region.
