Russia is preparing to wage war against countries supporting Ukraine by launching missile strikes into their territory, Poland‘s Prime Minister revealed last night.
Donald Tusk issued a chilling warning after the country was forced to close its airspace, scramble fighter jets and close airports due to the Kremlin’s latest assault.
Addressing Poland’s parliament, Mr Tusk said Western intelligence agencies have confirmed Vladimir Putin‘s preparations for a wider conflict.
As a key ally of Ukraine, Britain could be among the countries Russia intends to strike as its campaign drags on with scant chance of achieving its aims.
It comes as NATO chief Mark Rutte said the UK needs a ‘credible path’ towards hitting its defence spending target with ‘yearly increments’.
While Russian drone strikes and reconnaissance missions inside NATO airspace have happened before, including over British bases, missile strikes would represent a significant escalation.
Mr Tusk was speaking after a brazen Russian attack on western Ukraine, close to the Polish border involving a high-speed jet-powered drone.
The air strike came days after a Russian drone struck a railway station close to the border that narrowly missed Western dignitaries including former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Russia is preparing to wage war against countries supporting Ukraine by launching missile strikes into their territory, Poland’s Prime Minister revealed last night
Pictured: A British Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon fighter aircraft flies at RAF Coningsby on May 16, 2023
A rescuer works inside a residential building, which was hit during a Russian military strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine, in this handout picture released on September 17
An increasingly desperate President Putin appears to want to frighten Ukraine’s western allies into withdrawing their support.
Mr Tusk told Polish parliamentarians: ‘We know he is plotting something bad. However, for us the most important task is to prepare for various scenarios.
‘We will certainly not naively accept such messages that Russia has goodwill and will start behaving properly. There is no indication of this.’
Tusk added that the intelligence was ‘very consistent and convincing’ and warned that Russia could portray future attacks as incidental, with the aim of weakening NATO’s willingness to respond.
He also said the coming months of autumn and winter would be the most critical period of the four-year conflict, with Russia seeking to test NATO’s resolve as never before.
Russia’s increasing use of jet-powered drones in western Ukraine has led to calls for Britain and other allies to shoot down Russian warheads before they reach NATO airspace.
Former UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace described the move, which would inevitably be considered escalatory by the Kremlin, as ‘the natural next step’.
The increased speed of jet-powered drones means Western air defences have a shorter time to respond, hence the need to engage the drones sooner.
Mr Tusk added: ‘There is a real risk that drones or other types of missiles could penetrate the territory of one or more countries on the eastern flank and even cause damage, while the official explanation will be that there was an accident.’
A deep-strike drone launches for a combat mission in an undisclosed location in Ukraine
People inspect the site of a Russian strike on a high-rise residential building in Odesa, South Ukraine, on September 17
Donald Tusk issued a chilling warning after the country was forced to close its airspace, scramble fighter jets and close airports due to the Kremlin’s latest assault
Poland, which is spending more on improving its defences than Britain, as a percentage of GDP, is confident that it could defeat Russia in any conventional war with its European allies.
Last week, the country’s Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said Kremlin forces would be overwhelmed ‘quite quickly’ due to its, and NATO’s aerial superiority.
Polish air forces have been pre-authorised to shoot down any Russian jets that stray into its airspace. It is also stepping up its F-16 jet patrols and helicopter activity.
The UK Prime Minister is under growing pressure to explain how the UK will meet its defence spending goal.
The Government has so far only budgeted an increase to 2.7 per cent of GDP by 2027/28, with no firm details on how further growth will be achieved beyond that date.
Speaking yesterday, NATO chief Rutte said: ‘You cannot spend it today, but you can also not wait ’til 2035.
‘And that is why you need a credible path towards that 3.5 per cent, and yearly increments.
‘I think we are on the right path now to make sure that also going forward we stay ahead of the Russians.
‘But again, that means that all of us, the UK and all the others, have to stick to that path to the 3.5 per cent with yearly increments.’
