WARSAW (Reuters) -Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday that this week’s drone incursions into his country’s airspace were not a mistake by Russia, despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion that the incident could have been accidental.
“We would also wish that the drone attack on Poland was a mistake. But it wasn’t. And we know it,” Tusk said on X.
Early on Wednesday, Poland shot down drones in its airspace with the backing of military aircraft from its NATO allies, the first time a member of the Western military alliance is known to have fired shots during Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Earlier on Friday, deputy defence minister Cezary Tomczyk also commented on Trump’s comment.
“I think this is a message that should reach President Trump today: there’s no question of a mistake – this was a deliberate Russian attack,” he told local TV broadcaster Polsat News.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who visits Kyiv on Friday, also responded to Trump’s words.
“On the night that 19 Russian drones crossed into Poland, 400 (drones) plus 40 missiles crossed into Ukraine. These were not mistakes,” he said in a video posted on X.
At Poland’s request, the UN Security Council will meet in New York on Friday. The meeting will begin at 1500 local time, Polish foreign affairs ministry said.
(Reporting by Barbara Erling, Pawel Florkiewicz, Anna Koper; editing by Philippa Fletcher and Timothy Heritage)
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