Russia’s drones over Poland proves nowhere in Europe is safe from Putin

Russian drones in Polish airspace were not a glitch or a stray flight path, in my estimations – they were a test and a warning.

Anyone who knows dictators and fascists knows they do not stop at one border. Ukraine was always the first step and this latest escalation is the second.

Nato fighter aircraft from Poland, the Netherlands, and Italy shot down multiple drones that repeatedly crossed the border during a massive overnight assault on Ukraine.

Follow Metro’s blog for live coverage of Russia’s drone attack on Poland

Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, put it starkly: ‘This situation brings us the closest we have been to open conflict since World War Two. He requested invoking Article 4 of the Nato Treaty, which allows allies to open urgent consultations if they are under threat.

And he is right to do so.

Our country has a proud history of standing up for its allies. Though Second World War comparisons are often overused, how the UK stood up for Poland then, and must do so now, is inescapable.

There is no doubt that Europe faces its greatest threat since that war, and history shows how we must respond.

It has been clear to me since day one: Vladimir Putin’s full‑scale, unprovoked, and illegal invasion of Ukraine was never going to stop there.

He does not think in neat borders. He thinks in pressure and military might – testing, probing, normalising the unthinkable one slice at a time. This assault is the clearest public sign yet of that logic.

If he can do it to Poland, he can try it in Lithuania, and then perhaps Finland. No wonder leaders across the Baltics and Nordics are alarmed. They can see what’s coming if Europe blinks.

So what should we do? First, stop pretending this is someone else’s problem and flush out the stallers.

In Washington, Donald Trump blames Volodymyr Zelenskyy for starting the war, and his VP, JD Vance, dismissed Ukraine as something he doesn’t ‘really care’ about. You can bet those shrugs were noticed in Moscow.

In Europe, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán frustrated EU support, flying to Moscow for a photo‑op with Vladimir Putin, while Slovakia’s Robert Fico halted state arms deliveries to Ukraine. That spineless drift and delay make us all less safe.

Polish and Ukrainian airspace is European airspace. They are our neighbours, our allies, our friends. If drones can cross today, missiles can test it tomorrow.

Nato stepped in last night. It has already helped intercept and track – good – but Europe needs more. An integrated line of defence that works at 3am without a committee call.

That means more missiles, more radar coverage, and shared rules of engagement so pilots and operators know exactly what to do when an object crosses the line.

Support for Ukraine is not charity – it is insurance. On this, the UK and its people can be proud. Our position has been clear from the start.

Our allies, however? Trump’s America must learn the same lesson.

The cheapest place to stop Russian attacks aimed at Europe is in Russia – allowing Ukraine to destroy drones before they launch, obliterate ammunition stocks, and tear up plans to advance.

Keeping Kyiv supplied with interceptors, long‑range strikes, and the ammunition to grind down Russia’s launch capacity is how you protect Vilnius and Warsaw without firing a shot from Nato soil.

Pushing Russia back is not escalation – it is the fastest route back to deterrence.

Capitulation does not work. History proves that. Putin cannot be allowed a single inch of Ukraine.

Conceding Crimea did not stop him in 2014. Talk of land swaps did not stop him this year. It does not work. It never works.

Repeated, deliberate violations of Nato airspace must carry pre‑agreed, proportionate consequences that the Kremlin understands. Continued ambiguity invites continued adventurism.

Clarity deters it. That clarity must include choking off the drone supply chain, sanctioning anyone enabling those purchases, and using frozen Russian assets to harden Europe’s defences and replenish Ukraine’s stocks.

The line between ‘over there’ and ‘over here’ has vanished.

The drones in Polish airspace are part of the same story as the strikes that hit power plants in western Ukraine, the cyber probing of Baltic ministries, and the missiles that terrorise Odesa.

If we do nothing, we will pay more later – and not just financially. If we do now what we should have done two years ago, we can still beat Putin back.

The drones over Poland must be the end of the argument. Putin was never going to stop at Ukraine. That could not be clearer now.

As Russia’s grip tightens, the UK must step up. We must be the country that acts decisively.

I’ve said it before, and it is no easier to say now, months later: Britain must enter this war – with troops on the border of Ukraine, planes in the sky protecting European airspace, and weapons pointed directly at Moscow as a final warning.

We’ve done it before – and won. It is time for Britain to lead the way again.

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