KEY POINTS
- Trump vows the US would defend Poland and the Baltic states if Russia escalates.
- His remarks followed a reported Russian airspace violation over Estonia.
- NATO jets from Italy, Sweden and Finland reportedly intercepted the Russian fighters.
- Poland reported 19 drone incursions on 10 September, prompting NATO to invoke Article 4.
- Moscow denied violations and said its strikes targeted sites inside Ukraine only.
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Washington would defend Poland and the Baltic states in case of an escalation from Russia, following what NATO described as a violation of Estonian airspace by Russian fighter jets.
Asked by reporters whether the United States would come to the aid of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in the event of Russian escalation, Trump replied: “Yeah, I would. I would.” He added that Moscow’s recent behaviour was unacceptable. “We don’t like it,” he said.
His remarks came after Estonia called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday, following an incident on Friday when three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets allegedly entered Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland.
NATO said Italian F-35 aircraft, deployed under its Baltic air defence mission, along with Swedish and Finnish jets, intercepted the Russian planes and forced them to turn back.
The European Union and NATO condemned the incursion as a dangerous provocation. However, Moscow denied any violation had occurred.
Trump confirmed he had been briefed on the incident in Estonia. “We don’t like it,” he repeated.
The pledge to defend NATO’s eastern members also followed alleged drone incursions over Polish territory earlier this month.
On 10 September, Poland’s Armed Forces Operational Command said it had destroyed several objects identified as unmanned aerial vehicles that had violated its airspace.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk later told reporters that the country recorded 19 airspace violations overnight.
In response, NATO, at Warsaw’s request, invoked Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which allows members to hold consultations when they consider their security under threat.
At the time, Trump had downplayed the incident, suggesting the drones may have strayed by mistake. “It could have been a mistake,” he told journalists on 11 September.
The Russian defence ministry said its strikes between 9 and 10 September had targeted Ukrainian military-industrial facilities in western regions including Ivano-Frankivsk, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia and Lviv, insisting no Polish targets were involved.
It added that the drones allegedly entering Polish airspace had a maximum range of 700 kilometres, and expressed readiness to hold consultations with Warsaw over the matter.
