NATO warns Russia as drones breach airspace

NATO has issued a stark warning to Moscow after Russian drones crossed into Polish airspace on 10 September, triggering air defences and emergency consultations in Brussels.

Secretary General Mark Rutte said it was “the largest concentration of violations of NATO airspace that we have seen” and called the incidents “dangerous and unacceptable.” Poland immediately invoked Article 4 of the NATO treaty, bringing allies together to discuss the threat.

Rutte said the Alliance would not let such incursions go unanswered. “Russia violated NATO airspace. Therefore, we must – as NATO – make clear our resolve and our ability to defend our territory,” he told reporters. The launch of a new mission, Eastern Sentry, was unveiled as the response.

Eastern Sentry will begin in the coming days, with forces from the UK, France, Germany, Denmark and others moving to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank. The operation will feature integrated air and ground defences and, for the first time, dedicated counter-drone capabilities aimed at tackling the exact threat that prompted the alert.

General Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said the Alliance’s actions were already having an effect. “Although the immediacy of our focus is on Poland, this situation transcends the borders of one nation. What affects one Ally affects us all,” he said.

Allied leaders are framing Eastern Sentry as both deterrence and reassurance. The scale of the deployments, and their rapid timing, are intended to signal to Moscow that allies will act in lockstep. Rutte underlined this point, saying NATO would “defend every inch of Allied territory.”

For months, Russia has been testing the edges of NATO airspace in Romania, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The latest incursion into Poland has convinced allies that this is now a pattern rather than a string of accidents. Eastern Sentry is designed to show that NATO is ready to adapt, and that allied territory is not open to repeated probing without consequence.