Nato to step up air defences immediately but Rutte refuses to say whether Russian drone incursion was intentional – as it happened | Europe

Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk welcomed the new Nato mission as he said Poland wanted “our actions to send a clear response to Russia that its provocations will not be in any way tolerated.”

“We welcomed with satisfaction the assurances and declarations just made by Nato secretary general Mark Rutte and the Supreme Allied Commander Europe general Grynkewich. These are exactly the kind of declarations and decisions we had asked for; a decisive and swift action,” he told lawmakers in the Polish Sejm.

Nato’s Eastern Sentry meant to provide degree of public reassurance – snap analysis

Dan Sabbagh

Defence and security editor

It was something of a surprise that two days on, Nato leaders are still not willing to say whether the drone incursion of 21 drones into Poland was deliberate or not.

But the decision to beef up air policing in Poland with the deployment of extra fighter jets from France, Germany and Denmark suggests that alliance members were not has happy as they say they are with how the Wednesday night’s drone incursion was handled.

The new mission, Eastern Sentry, will focus on better countering drone and missiles threats, spill over activity from Ukraine – starting in Poland and spreading across the alliance’s entire eastern flank – and will at least provide a degree of public reassurance.

Whether it will deter the Russians from doing anything similar again is unfortunately less certain.

No public call on Russia’s intent with drone incursion into Poland, but Nato’s intent is clear in its response – snap analysis

Jakub Krupa

It was very notable that Rutte, despite being repeatedly asked, didn’t want to say whether he believed the Russian drone incursion into Poland was a deliberate act by Russia – which, as he himself acknowledged, would make the incident significantly more serious.

It was also telling that while Grynkewich defended the operation on Wednesday, he said it’s time to take a “fresh look” at the current setup, as the incident was “obviously larger than previous incursions that we’ve had,” and that if it had been like previous incidents, “we would have gotten them all.”

But the overall message was clear: Nato will immediately step up its air defences – in fact, starting tonight – to demonstrate its commitment to defending every inch of allied territory.

Rutte also makes a point that the eastern flank of Nato defends the entire alliance, as he stressed that “these latest Russian missiles, when they will be launched, they come down with five times the speed of sound, and they will take five or 10 minutes longer to reach Madrid or London than they take to reach Tallin or Vilnius.”

“ So in that sense, let’s agree that within this alliance for 32 countries, we all live on the eastern flank,” he says.

Grynkewich makes a very similar point as he draws on his first-hand experience “from my time in the Middle East.”

He says:

“The range that those drones can fly, and the paths that they can take, we are all vulnerable to them. So the eastern flank provides a first line of defence for this.

And if those drones get through that first line of defence, they can be paired with the ballistic missiles or other capabilities that hold the entire alliance at risk.

So I do think while it is an eastern sentry line that we’re working to defend, it is on behalf of the entire alliance that this is going forward.”

That ends the press conference.

Rutte gets asked a question on intent.

Once again, he sidesteps the question and says “we are still assessing” this, but argues that it’s a serious incident anyway.

“It’s not that relevant, because whatever yes or no … it was anyway reckless.

It was a bunch of Russian drones, even if they were not intent to go into Poland, if that will be the outcome of this… And of course, if it was the intent, there’s even more serious. But in both cases, it is reckless. It is unacceptable. It is the Russians taking risk,” he explains.

Grynkewich gets asked if Nato has to play ‘catch up’ with the danger intensifying every day from Russia.

He defends the response saying the alliance was able “to act decisively on a meaningful tactical timeline to eliminate much of the threat.”

He insists that “we were postured fairly well for that event.”

But he says that the new programme responds to the new threat, as he acknowledges that “the scale of that incursion being something that we hadn’t seen to this point.”

“We had seen a few drones here and there a smaller number … if it had just been that we would have gotten them all, but, but, clearly, with the number that came across the border, it’s time to take a fresh look at this and we’re always learning,” he says.

The leaders also get asked about the timeline for launching the new Eastern Sentry and what they make of the EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s idea of a “drone wall.”

Grynkewich says that he has issued an order for the Eastern Sentry to start tonight.

“It will take some time for us to bring everything together with the new contributions that have been coming in, and we’ll continue to work on this and refine the design of the operation, moving forward, but it begins immediately,” he says.

On drone wall, he says there is a number of lessons that can be learned from Ukraine and “what kind of sensors, what kind of weapons, kinetic and non kinetic might be effective,” and confirms work on this is “absolutely going to be something that we want to do moving forward.”

Both leaders get asked about the US response and comments under US president Trump.

Rutte says that “America’s commitment to Nato’s ironclad in every sense,” and that there is “no doubt” about it and he is “very happy with the American reaction.”

He declines to say if he spoke with Trump, but notes Trump’s engagement with the Polish president, Karol Nawrocki.

Grynkewich says that “as far as US military assets, I’m right here and I’m involved.”

Grynkewich gets asked if it’s time for allies to start shooting at drones already as they are on western Ukraine.

He sidesteps the question:

“What I would say is Eastern Sentry is focused on the defence of Alliance territory, and as of right now, I see no conflict between the support that individual nations are providing to Ukraine and what they are offering to contribute to this effort.”

Both leaders get asked about Nato’s response and seemingly low rate of drones that were shot down on Wednesday.

Grynkewich says it was “a highly successful operation,” although adds that “we always learn something in the debrief as we would say in the fighter business.”

He says that the scale of the incursion was larger than previously, and more resources will “help” going forward, including with lowering costs of defending the alliance.

He says he doesn’t want his soldiers “thinking about how much their weapons cost, I want them defending our citizens.”

Rutte repeats with a broader warning:

“Whatever the intent was behind this, yes or no, and whether it was a mistake or not, we are still looking into that. It was reckless, it was unacceptable. These are Russian drones, and it is extremely serious.”

Rutte is speaking again.

Notably, he repeatedly uses careful language on whether the Russian drone incursion into Poland was deliberate or not.

He says:

“Our assessment of the incidents on Wednesday is ongoing and whether or not Russia’s actions were deliberate, Russia’s violated Nato airspace.

Therefore we must, as Nato, make clear our resolve and our ability to defend our territory.”

Supreme Allies Commander Europe Alexus Grynkewich says the issue of regional security was central to his recent conversation with leaders in the Baltics, as well as a discussion on “Nato’s response to the reckless and dangerous act that occured in Poland earlier this week.”

He says he is “incredibly proud of our response.”

He says “this decisiveness will continue with Eastern sentry,” as he adds that “although the immediacy of our focus is on Poland, this situation transcends the borders of one nation.”

“Poland and citizens from across the Alliance should be assured by our rapid response earlier this week and our significant announcement here today.

Nato will continue to defend every inch of its territory.”

Nato’s Mark Rutte opens the briefing saying that on 10 September “numerous Russian drones violated Polish airspace,” with air defences “activated” to defend the Nato territory.

“Whilst this was the largest concentration of violations of Nato airspace that we have seen, what happened on Wednesday was not an isolated incident,” he says, noting similar incidents in Romania, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

He says “Russia’s recklessness in the air along our eastern flank is increasing in frequency.”

Whether intentional or not, it is dangerous and unacceptable.

He says Nato will launch a new mission – dubbed “Eastern sentry” – to “bolster our posture even further along our eastern flank,” involving “a range of assets from allies including Denmark, France, UK, Germany and others.”

“Eastern sentry will add flexibility and strength to our posture and make clear that as a defensive alliance, we are always ready to defend,” he says.