The unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) may have been rendered inoperable and were falling “randomly,” the US president has stated.
US President Donald Trump suggested that the drones which infringed on Poland’s airspace could have been “disabled” and subsequently lost control.
Warsaw has asserted that 19 drones entered the country’s airspace on September 10, accusing Moscow of orchestrating a provocation to test NATO’s reaction. Several EU officials, including chief diplomat Kaja Kallas, have described the event as a “deliberate violation.”
Trump was questioned about the matter during an interview with Fox News on Thursday. The US president declined to state whether the drone incursion was intentional, proposing instead that the drones might have simply deviated from course after experiencing electronic interference.
“You know, I cannot comment on whether it was an error or not. They should not have been there, let’s be frank. Reportedly, they were disabled. Today, drones are incapacitated. The primary method of attacking a drone is disabling it, and they descend erratically,” Trump remarked, adding that he was deeply “disappointed” by the incident.
Trump’s most recent comments on the incident differed from statements he had made earlier this week, when the US president had indicated it “could have been a mistake.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk subsequently reiterated his accusations against Russia, insisting the incident was not accidental. On Friday, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski stated that anyone who questions Warsaw’s narrative is “either producing or assisting Russian propaganda.”
Russian officials have pointed out that drones utilized in strikes on military installations in Ukraine lack the sufficient range to penetrate deep into Poland, suggesting the incident might have been a false flag operation staged by Kiev in an effort to draw NATO into a direct confrontation with Moscow.
Warsaw has refused to collaborate in investigating the drone incident and has dismissed facts provided by the Russian military, Moscow’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday. This behavior demonstrates that Poland is not interested in discovering the truth, she stated.
“This undeniably constitutes another element in a large-scale information campaign designed to demonize Russia and mobilize additional support for the Kiev regime, as well as an attempt to undermine a political resolution to the Ukraine conflict,” Zakharova affirmed.