The NATO military alliance, led by European members, said it was bolstering defenses on its eastern flank following a tension-raising Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace.
NATO on September 12 said it had launched a new operation, dubbed “Eastern Sentry,” that would deploy additional military hardware from Britain, Denmark, France, and Germany to deter potential Russian aggression.
“The multi-domain activity, which will commence in the coming days and continue for an undisclosed amount of time, is in response to ongoing airspace violations, including the numerous Russian drones that violated Poland’s airspace on September 10,” NATO said in a statement.
“The key to this is an entirely new defense design,” US General Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s supreme allied commander Europe, told a Brussels news conference.
Grynkewich said the new equipment would include French Rafale fighter jets, Danish F-16s, a frigate, and ground-based defense systems that had previously been pledged to the region.
Grynkewich told reporters the military alliance would defend every inch of its territory.
“Poland and citizens from across the alliance should be assured by our rapid response earlier this week and our significant announcement here today,” Grynkewich said.
French President Emmanuel Macron said: “The security of the European continent is our top priority. We will not yield to Russia’s growing intimidation.”
At an emergency UN Security Council meeting, acting US Ambassador Dorothy Shea said the “United States stands by our NATO allies in the face of these alarming airspace violations…and rest assured, we will defend every inch of NATO territory.”
Shea said Russia’s intensified attacks on Ukraine and its of Polish airspace following the August 15 Alaska summit between US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin “intentionally or otherwise show immense disrespect for good-faith US efforts to bring an end to this conflict.”
Former longtime NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu, now an expert at the RUSI think tank, wrote on social media that it remains “unclear what more — if anything — the US is willing to do to strengthen NATO air defenses. So far, we’ve seen Europeans operating US platforms without a direct American military role,”
The US military, along with other NATO nations, already stations troops in many countries in the alliance’s eastern flank countries, including Poland.
Jamie Shea of the Chatham House think tank in London and a former top NATO official, told AP that by provoking Western allies to send air defenses to Poland, Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to force the allies to “make the choice between defending NATO and defending Ukraine.”
Should they be unable to do both, he said, “from Putin’s point of view, this would be a very happy development because then he would be able to take apart Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, causing misery for the Ukrainian population.”
Trump: Patience With Putin ‘Sort Of Running Out’
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump told Fox News his patience with Putin was “sort of running out and running out fast,” but he did not announce any potential moves toward new sanctions or tariffs on Moscow.
Trump has often spoken of his high regard for and his friendship with Putin, but in recent months has expressed frustration with the Kremlin leader’s refusal to accept a cease-fire or to meet with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He has also said he was “very disappointment” with Russia’s continued drone and missile strikes on Ukrainian cities.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on September 12 denied that Russia had fired the drones that violated Polish airspace and said talks to end the war in Ukraine were currently on “pause.”
“One cannot simply put on rose-tinted glasses and expect that the negotiation process will yield lightning-fast results. The Russian side remains ready to follow the path of peaceful dialogue,” Peskov said.
Drone Incursion Not A Mistake, Tusk Says
Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk — in a rare rebuke of the United States, his country’s most-important ally — rejected Trump’s suggestion on September 11 that the drone incursion into Poland may have been “a mistake.”
“We would also wish that the drone attack on Poland was a mistake,” Tusk wrote on X. “But it wasn’t. And we know it.”
In an interview with Reuters — conducted in Kyiv, where he was visiting — Polish Foreign Minister Radislaw Sikorski said Warsaw hoped for a stronger line from the United States to put pressure on Russia.
“So we hope the United States will join other allies in solidarity,” he said.
On the financial front, Britain unveiled fresh sanctions on Russia’s oil revenue and war machine.
The new measures announced included bans on 70 vessels that Britain says are part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” that transports Russian oil in defiance of existing sanctions.
Britain also sanctioned more than two dozen individuals and companies — including those in Turkey and China — for their part in supplying Russia with electronics, chemicals, explosives, and other weapons components.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper — just a week after being appointed — traveled to Kyiv on September 12.
“The UK will not stand idly by as Putin continues his barbaric invasion of Ukraine,” Cooper said, while blasting what she called Putin’s “complete disregard for sovereignty” by launching drones into NATO airspace.