Polish drone strike tests NATO, aims to distract from Russian war crimes - Shmyhal
Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal has said that he believes that the incursion of Russian drones into Polish airspace was a "test" of NATO's reaction. He stated this in an interview with Sky News.
"From my point of view, it was like a signal, it was an attempt to test NATO members, how NATO would react, how Poland would react, to take measures, how much time it would take to react. So, this is Russia's strategy - to be ready for war with NATO, and they continue to implement their doctrine to keep all European countries under constant attack in all different spheres - in the information, disinformation, social, political, religious, and now even in the military sphere, attacking Polish territory," Shmyhal said.
However, Shmyhal noted that in addition to the military reasons for the incursion of drones into Poland, another probable reason was an attempt to shift the emphasis from the attacks and war crimes in Ukraine.
"In recent weeks, Russia has committed a huge number of war crimes, crimes of aggression that are taking place in Ukraine. They killed children every day and every night. Two days ago, they killed a mother and a child. They killed 25 people in Kyiv, four of them children. They killed 21 pensioners in the Donetsk region yesterday during our meeting in Ramstein. And this was a deliberate attack with a guided bomb, actually on a group of pensioners who were waiting for their pensions. So, this is a war crime. And now Russia is shifting the emphasis and is shifting the emphasis of the world community, the world community from this war crime to an attack on Poland with the help of decoy drones," the minister explained.
These events, he is convinced, indicate that Russia has no intention of stopping its attacks.
"Russia intends to check how NATO will react, which means that Russia continues to prepare for a possible war with NATO countries," Shmyhal said.