Warsaw, Poland – Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk promised Thursday to move forward with a “great modernization program” for the army of his country, a day after Russian drones have been crossed in Poland And forced NATO alliance to confront a potential threat in his airspace for the first time.
European officials described the raid of Wednesday, which took place during a wave of Relatives Russian strikes on UkraineAs a deliberate provocation. It deepened the long -standing fears The three -year war A broader conflict could precipitate between the neighbors of Poland. Guided efforts To send Moscow and Kyiv to a peace scheme, have not received a grip so far.
The Polish Air Navigation Agency announced on Thursday morning that Poland introduced air traffic restrictions in the eastern part of the country. It said that the step was taken at the request of the Polish army for national security reasons, but not worked.
Poland said that some of the drones that came in on Wednesday came from Wit -Russia, where Russian and local troops started collecting war games Planned to start Friday. Poland closes its border with white -Russia at midnight Thursday, a planned step also associated with the military exercises.
Tusk addressed Polish troops on an air base in the central city of Lask, who praised their rapid action and that of NATO -Allied troops from the Netherlands who responded to the several Russian drone raids.
Poland expects to receive his first F-35 fighter jets from the United States next year, he said. It will be the first delivery of some of the 32 planes that are expected by 2030 as part of a support package that was completed five years ago, Tusk said.
The jets are aimed at considerably strengthening Polish safety and NATO defense capacities against regional threats.
“We will do everything we can to ensure that our allied obligations, which are so important from our position today, are fulfilled by our allies,” Tusk said
“We hope that the Americans will get the deadlines. We want the first party of the F-35s to reach you in May, and so that we can talk about our Air Force from month to year and year to year and year to year, and from year to year. And that Poland is really safe for heaven.”
US President Donald Trump offered one on Wednesday ambiguous first reaction To the drone raid from Russia. “What’s with Russia that breaks Poland airspace with drones? Here we go!” Trump posted on social media.
Trump told Polish President Karol Nawrocki in the White House last week that the US will maintain A robust military presence.
Several European leaders said they believed that the invasion amounted to a deliberate expansion of the Russian attack on Ukraine.
“The war of Russia does not escalate and ends,” Kaja Kallas of the European Union told the foreign policy of foreign policy on Wednesday to reporters in Brussels. “What (Russian President Vladimir) wants to do is to test us. What happened in Poland is a game change,” she said, adding that it should lead to stronger sanctions.
Polish airspace has been Violated many times Since the full invasion of Russia in Ukraine in 2022, but never on this scale in Poland or somewhere else in the NATO territory.
___
Follow AP’s reports on the war in Ukraine https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
#Polish #Prime #Minister #promises #continue #military #modernization #Russian #drone #raid