Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned that intelligence assessments indicate Russia is planning drone and missile attacks against countries supporting Ukraine, including Poland.
Speaking to parliament on Thursday, Mr Tusk said the alleged strikes would be designed to weaken NATO’s ability to respond collectively to aggression against one of its members.
“According to intelligence assessments, Russia’s plan … includes hybrid drone and missile strikes against countries supporting Ukraine, including Poland,” he said.
Mr Tusk said the attacks could be made to appear “accidental”, with the aim of paralysing or weakening the resolve of NATO states to invoke the alliance’s relevant provisions.
He did not say which intelligence agencies had provided the warning. He also linked the potential attacks to political changes in European countries that could give greater influence to parties taking a more Russia-friendly position.
Mr Tusk appeared to be referring to parties including Alternative for Germany and France’s National Rally. He said such groups could use calls for peace and opposition to further casualties to argue for what he described as the total capitulation of Ukraine.
Poland scrambles aircraft after attack near border
Poland separately scrambled military aircraft on Thursday after a Russian attack in western Ukraine, close to the Polish border.
Airports in Rzeszow and Lublin were temporarily closed, while residents in two eastern Polish regions received air raid warnings. Local media reported that sirens sounded and that pupils in some schools took shelter.
Mr Tusk said a petrol station near Dorohusk, very close to the Polish border, had most likely been attacked again. A Russian drone struck a passenger train in Ukraine on Sunday, about two kilometres from the border.
Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said Poland was strengthening protection of its airspace. “We have increased F-16 and helicopter activity, and are reinforcing our air defence and rapid response systems,” he wrote.
Mr Tusk is due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday to discuss cooperation through the Integrated Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition, a group of European countries developing an air defence system with Ukraine as a cheaper alternative to the US-built Patriot system.
European countries have suspected Moscow of involvement in a series of sabotage acts in recent months aimed at pressuring allies supporting Kyiv, particularly Germany. The Kremlin has vigorously denied the allegations.
