Czech President Petr Pavel stated that the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance will have to openly demonstrate to russia in the near future their readiness to respond to any armed aggression or deliberate test of that readiness. He made these remarks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session currently taking place in New York, according to Fox News.
The politician does not rule out the possibility of shooting down russian military aircraft or reconnaissance drones over NATO territory. In his view, Moscow may interpret a lack of response to such provocations as a sign of weakness, which would encourage it to go even further.
“I understand my colleagues who do not want an escalation, but by doing so, they risk sending the wrong signal to Moscow. Russia respects only strength,” Pavel emphasized.
This was the Czech leader’s comment on the events on NATO’s eastern flank, when a russian Mi-8 helicopter crossed the border with Poland from Kaliningrad, entered Polish airspace, and forced Warsaw to scramble fighter jets. Later that same week, Romania also ordered its F-16 pilots to be on combat alert after an unidentified aerial target was detected.
As previously reported, Reuters analysts agree that the NATO alliance may be unprepared for the challenges of modern warfare.
© 2026 Ukrainian News Agency
Trump would condemn it and shout loudly “WWWIII!”
I’m still amazed the EU looks to Trump to help. The EU political leaders are not only morons but their wimps as well
This should’ve been done a long time ago already. We remember that Turkey shot down a ruskie plane and no WWIII was started. Furthermore, the ruskies have never violated Turkish airspace again. You have to kick a ruskie’s teeth down his throat to make him comprehend his evil doings. Everything else is plain pathetic.