KYIV, Ukraine (NewsNation) — The United Nations Security Council convened an emergency meeting Friday afternoon at Poland’s request after multiple Russian drones entered Polish territory this week.
The incursion into Poland, which came during unrelenting Russian strikes on neighboring Ukraine, deepened long-standing fears that the three-year war between Poland’s neighbors could precipitate a wider conflict. U.S.-led efforts to steer Moscow and Kyiv toward a peace settlement have so far failed to get traction.
European officials described the incursion as a deliberate provocation, forcing the NATO alliance to confront a potential threat in its airspace for the first time and compelling it to take stock of its military response and capabilities.
The foreign ministers of Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania published a joint statement calling the incursion “a deliberate and coordinated strike constituting an unprecedented provocation and escalation of tension.”
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.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday offered an ambiguous initial response to Russia’s drone incursion. “What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!” Trump posted on social media.
Trump told Karol Nawrocki, the Polish president, in the White House last week that the U.S. will maintain a robust military presence in Poland.
Polish airspace has been violated many times since Russia’s full-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022 but never on this scale in Poland or anywhere else in NATO territory.
Russian drone attacks on civilian areas are daily occurrences in Ukraine. The Ukrainian military has successfully developed drones to combat the attacks, called interceptors. The war has spurred fast-track development of high-tech drone technology.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.