Krystyna Kazakova20:55, 12.09.25

A number of allied countries are involved in the operation and it will begin in the coming days.

The operation is being launched to strengthen the defense of Europe’s eastern flank and these measures are NATO’s response to the incursion of Russian drones into Polish airspace on the night of Wednesday, September 10, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said, Reuters reports . 

“This is reckless and unacceptable. We cannot allow Russian drones to enter Allied airspace,” the NATO Secretary General said. 

It is indicated that, according to Rutte, the operation will begin in the coming days and will involve a number of resources from allies, including Denmark, France, Great Britain, Germany and other countries. 

The publication notes that Rutte made this statement at a press conference while standing next to NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander, US Air Force General Alex Hrinkiewicz. 

It is noteworthy that he was asked whether it was time to integrate the anti-aircraft capabilities of NATO and Ukraine and act together against the same enemy.  

“‘Eastern Sentinel’ will be focused primarily on protecting Alliance territory. And at the moment I see no conflict between the support that individual countries provide to Ukraine and what they propose to do for these efforts,” he said. 

At the same time, Hrynkevich positively assessed Ukraine’s experience and the EU initiative to build the so-called “anti-drone wall.” He added that such methods are in line with NATO’s intentions. 

“Having just returned from the Baltics, where a number of countries are investing in technology, studying Ukraine’s experience in terms of what sensors and what weapons, kinetic and non-kinetic, I understand that this can be effective. And so integrating these types of defense into our daily deterrence activities and into our regional plans is absolutely what we want to do in the future,” Hrynkevich emphasized. 

In his opinion, NATO can learn a lot from Ukraine. 

“They have a well-developed defense-industrial base. They have extensive experience working with drone interceptors. We have the capacity, we have the Joint Analytical Training Center in Poland, which is common to NATO and Ukraine, where we take lessons,” the general noted.

 NATO and the war in Ukraine

UNIAN previously reported that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga believes that the Russian drone attack on Poland  could mark a new phase of Russian escalation, as it is a deliberate, direct violation of the airspace of a NATO and EU country. Sybiga added that the aggressor country also launched such a number of drones. He noted that, without a doubt, Russia is provoking NATO and certain countries with such actions, so the reaction should be very firm and decisive.

We also wrote that after the Russian drone attack on Poland, Alexander Leonov, executive director of the Center for Applied Political Research “Penta”, does not rule out that the next step of the aggressor country could be a drone strike on an administrative building or military facility of one of the NATO countries. The expert does not consider this incident accidental, but calls it a deliberate provocation. Leonov noted that such a large-scale “flight” is impossible in the event of a mistake.