Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Thursday that intelligence assessments indicate Russia could potentially target Poland and other NATO countries supporting Ukraine with drones or missiles while presenting any resulting incidents as accidental.
Speaking to parliament, Tusk said Moscow could be seeking to test NATO’s collective defense commitments and create uncertainty among alliance members.
He said intelligence assessments pointed to possible hybrid drone and missile attacks against countries backing Ukraine, including Poland. Tusk added that concerns about such scenarios had existed for some time but that recent information appeared increasingly consistent.
Tusk did not identify the intelligence agencies behind the assessment. However, he said he had received a detailed report from CIA Director John Ratcliffe the previous week.
According to Tusk, there is a risk that drones or missiles could enter the territory of one or more countries along NATO’s eastern flank and potentially cause damage, while Russia could officially describe the incident as accidental.
His warning came as Poland deployed fighter jets on Thursday in response to Russian strikes in western Ukraine near the Polish border.
The Polish military later said that Polish airspace had not been violated.
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