Published by The i Paper (11th September, 2025)
Make no mistake: the firing of at least 19 drones into Poland was not some kind of hapless mistake by Russia. This was a deliberate act of aggression by the Kremlin. It is designed to stoke tensions among Western allies and test the resolve of Nato at a time when its most powerful nation – the United States – is led by a weak and self-absorbed president who seems in such thrall to dictatorship as he shreds his own nation’s democratic foundations.
You would have to be astonishingly naive – or a pathetic Kremlin patsy – to fall for claims that these drones suffered technical malfunction to their navigation systems, causing them to stray deep into Poland’s airspace while avoiding the nearby skies over Moscow’s stooges in Hungary and Slovakia.
Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, is right to warn that the prospect of Russia’s war in Ukraine escalating into a wider military conflict is “closer than at any time since the Second World War”. Yet this attack highlights again the issue upon which our security and democracies depend: whether the West will wake up to the scale the threat unfolding before our eyes in the face of Russia’s assault on democracy, assisted by its autocratic allies.
It is no surprise to see Poland being targeted – especially when Vladimir Putin’s propagandists have warned openly on state-backed television that it is “the next candidate to be thrown under Russian tanks”.
Poland is the most important logistics hub for supplying weapons to Kyiv. A nation that suffered appallingly in the past from Russian imperialism before its democratic renaissance, it has offered strong support to neighbouring Ukraine since Moscow’s full-scale invasion three years ago. It has been repeatedly struck by sinister arson and cyberattacks as Moscow’s goons, spooks and thugs unleashed their wave of “grey zone” attacks on the West.
Yet Poland is – like many democracies – alarmingly divided, with growing resentment against Ukrainian refugees. This is being stirred on social media by exploiting old grievances against Ukrainian nationalists, tied to Second World War massacres.
Tusk, a former EU president, leads a centrist coalition that won power in late 2023. He ousted a hard-right party running the country for eight years – but his insipid and cautious reign enabled his rivals to hit back by capturing the presidency in June.
Thankfully, the pair seem united in their response to what Tusk called a “large-scale provocation” and Poland’s invoking of Nato’s article four, demanding formal consultations in response to Moscow’s military incursion.
Note that Poland – despite building up Europe’s biggest military in recent years to guard against the Kremlin’s renewed zeal for imperial expansion – shot down only four of the drones over its terrain, however. Meanwhile, Ukraine must deal nightly with hundreds of drones – along with barrages of glide bombs, ballistic weapons and cruise missiles – as Russia steps up its efforts to slaughter citizens, destroy infrastructure and grind down their heroic resistance.
Yet while Moscow intensifies these attacks, Ukraine faces a shortage of air defence systems since Washington has slowed shipments. Officials in Kyiv are wondering aloud if these critical munitions that save the lives of citizens might soon run out.
Such chilling warnings show again how Trump – elected leader of the planet’s democratic superpower – deliberately aids a fascistic Russian dictator who is inflicting atrocities and war crimes on innocent families across Ukraine.
This narcissistic fool – posing as a peacemaker – talks tough, tells Putin he is growing angry at the killing and threatens to ramp up sanctions. But again and again, Trump has done nothing so far in face of grotesque Kremlin defiance; just as he does nothing to restrain an Israeli regime committing genocidal atrocities in Gaza and unleashing military attacks on its enemies across the Middle East.
His actions are disturbing, exposing shocking personal weakness while shaming his country and staining its global reputation.
Putin is not only mocking the White House with the brutality of his onslaught on Ukraine, but also testing to see if Trump has corroded the West’s key defensive alliance in preparation for possible further attacks in the Baltic States or Eastern Europe. So, will Trump finally act – or carry on with his games?
Jon Healey, Britain’s defence secretary, says we face “a new era of threat”. In the absence of real US leadership, our country is leading moves for a “coalition of the willing” to help defend Ukraine – if a ceasefire can be agreed with the Kremlin killers. Yet what is to stop Kyiv’s allies from taking over air defence duties across the west of Ukraine – freeing up more Ukrainian troops to defend their frontlines in the south and east of this huge country?
Words are not enough, especially from a Labour government being so frighteningly sluggish in beefing up British defences in response to clear threats from our foes. Those Russian drones buzzing Poland were a warning that we ignore at our peril.