Russian Drones in NATO Airspace
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BRUSSELS—The crossing of Russian drones into the airspace of NATO countries is emerging as a test of the alliance’s red lines and its support to Ukraine in repelling Russian invaders without triggering a wider war.
Ukraine’s military said Tuesday it downed a Russian drone as the unmanned aerial vehicle returned after crossing into Polish airspace. Russia hasn’t commented on the incident. Earlier this week, another drone suspected of belonging to the Russian military crashed in Romania. Allied officials have said they are studying the incident.
“We are very closely monitoring airspace and the border areas around NATO,” Jens Stoltenberg, the head of the alliance, said Tuesday. “Our military commanders also have lines to the Russian commanders to help prevent incidents and accidents, and to help prevent them from spiraling out of control if they happen.”
“There’s always the risk of incidents and accidents,” Mr. Stoltenberg said ahead of Wednesday’s meeting. “Therefore we have to make every effort to prevent such incidents and accidents, and if they happen, to make sure they don’t spiral out of control and create really dangerous situations.”
Mr. Stoltenberg declined to comment on the alleged Russian incursion into NATO airspace. Poland’s Defense Ministry declined to comment beyond saying it was “monitoring the situation and taking necessary measures to ensure the security of the country.”
The drone appeared to be surveilling a Ukrainian military training center close to the Polish border that was struck by Russian missiles on Sunday, killing at least 35 people, Ukraine’s military said.
Russian drones are increasingly conducting reconnaissance near the Ukrainian border, as well as that between Poland and Belarus, a senior Western intelligence official said. “We have reliable indications of this, based on the position and range of drones we see.”
If Russian drones entered NATO airspace, they may have been testing the alliance’s air defenses. They also could have been badly piloted or had navigation problems. A senior Western diplomat said there was no indication that Russia has been trying to trigger incidents on NATO territory.
“We have not seen any attempt to engage allied forces—quite the opposite,” said the diplomat, who added that the drones may have entered NATO airspace due to navigation problems or other faults in their design or production.
A surveillance drone entering NATO airspace isn’t an armed attack, the senior Western diplomat said.
Spy drones may pose a particular challenge in defining when Russia has crossed a red line. They often aren’t armed and don’t pose a direct lethal threat. The information they gather, though, can be instrumental in planning an attack.
Days before the Polish and Romanian incidents, another drone, suspected to be of Ukrainian origin, crashed in Croatia, prompting the government there to ask the French military to conduct a surveillance flight of its airspace. That flight showed nothing suspicious, the French military said.
Mr. Stoltenberg said NATO believes the drone wasn’t armed, but the incident highlights that with all those drones and planes in the aircraft “there is more risk of incidents and accidents and therefore we need to be extremely vigilant.”
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“Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”
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