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LONDON: Britain on Monday summoned the Russian ambassador in London following Moscow’s “unprecedented violation” of NATO airspace, as the UK announced it would send fighter jets to help defend Polish airspace.
The Foreign Office called the incursions into Polish and Romanian airspace in recent days “unacceptable” and summoned Andrei Kelin, the Russian ambassador.
“Significant and unprecedented violation of Polish and NATO airspace by Russian drones last week, followed by a further incursion into Romanian airspace on Saturday, was utterly unacceptable,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Russia should understand that its continued aggression only strengthens the unity between NATO allies and our determination to stand with Ukraine, and any further incursions will again be met with force,” the ministry added. “Russia must end its illegal war on Ukraine.”
“The UK stands united with Poland, Romania, Ukraine and our NATO allies in unreservedly condemning these reckless actions,” the office added.
Multiple Russian drones crossed into Poland on Wednesday in what European officials described as a provocation, causing NATO to send fighter jets to shoot them down.
Russia said Poland wasn’t targeted, and Moscow’s ally Belarus said the drones went astray because they were jammed. But European leaders have expressed certainty that the incursion was deliberate, underlining long-held concerns about the expansion of Russia’s more than three-year war in Ukraine.
Polish airspace has been violated several times since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but there has been nothing on the scale of Wednesday’s violations in Poland or in any other NATO country.
Romania said Saturday it deployed two F-16 jets to intercept a drone that briefly entered its airspace. The country’s defense ministry said the drone did not fly over inhabited areas and did not represent an imminent danger to the public.
Britain’s military said Monday that Royal Air Force fighter jets will join several other European nations in air-defense missions over Poland.
Britain’s Defense Ministry said the Typhoon jets will join planes from Denmark, France and Germany in the mission, dubbed Eastern Sentry, which involves extra European fighter jets, a warship and air defense systems along with existing air policing and ground defenses.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said “Russia’s reckless behavior is a direct threat to European security and a violation of international law, which is why the UK will support NATO’s efforts to bolster its eastern flank through Eastern Sentry.”

BARYSAW: Explosions rang out, artillery shells screeched and jets roared as a few dozen men — including US military officials — watched through binoculars as Belarusian and Russian troops charged across a training ground.

Moscow and its key ally Minsk say the drills, called Zapad, are designed to simulate a possible invasion of their territory.

But it is NATO’s eastern flank that has its tail up about a possible attack — spooked by the movement of thousands of troops just days after Russian drones were downed over Poland and with Warsaw warning “open conflict” is closer than at any point since World War II.

To host Belarus, the concerns are overblown.

“We have heard a lot of things... that we are threatening NATO, that we are going to invade the Baltic states,” said Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin, overseeing the drills at the Barysaw base, east of Minsk, in a field uniform.

“Simply put, all kinds of nonsense,” he added.

Poland, Latvia and Lithuania — all of which border Belarus — have nevertheless ramped up security, with border closures and counter-drills.

Granting rare access to its military, Belarus had invited dozens of foreign journalists and TV crews to the choreographed military display on Monday.

Even military attachés from the United States were there, hailed as guests of honor.

“Give the American guests the best places and show them everything that interests them,” the Belarusian defense ministry said in a statement.

As the drills opened, Khrenin was filmed shaking hands with two US army soldiers, telling them how happy he was they had come.

“Thank you,” they replied, in Russian.

Lower numbers

From their perch on the viewing platform, they could watch camouflaged tank-like vehicles power into a river, turn and drive out onto the opposing bank.

A helicopter tracked the mock combat from overhead, flying just above the tops of nearby trees.

In a bunker, young conscripts loaded artillery shells into a launcher, while another tweaked the wiring on a drone before it was fired into the air.

Journalists were not invited to the parts of the drills taking place in the Barents and Baltic seas, or the ground exercises in Belarus’s western Grodna region, on the border with both Poland and Lithuania.

By Belarus’s count, the exercises are conspicuously low-key.

According to Minsk, just 7,000 troops are taking part — with only 1,000 sent by Moscow.

With Moscow’s forces fighting in Ukraine, the exercises are a shadow of the 2021 edition, held just months before Russia launched its offensive.

Some 200,000 troops took part back then.

Khrenin attributed the numbers to Minsk’s willingness to “reduce tensions” with neighbors.

“We have nothing to hide,” he said, adding: “We are only preparing to defend our country.”

Including the US observers, Belarus said 23 other countries sent observers to Barysaw — most of them traditional allies of Russia and Belarus.