Rutte on incident in Poland: Allies are resolved to defend every inch of Allied territory, ready to step up support for Ukraine
Poland's NATO allies expressed solidarity with Warsaw and condemned the irresponsible behavior of Russia, which violated the airspace of a NATO member state on the night of September 10. NATO member states are determined to defend every centimeter of Alliance territory, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said following a meeting of the North Atlantic Council.
"The North Atlantic Council met this morning and discussed the situation in light of Poland's request for consultations under Article 4 of the Washington Treaty. Allies expressed solidarity with Poland and denounced Russia's reckless behaviour. A full assessment of the incident is ongoing. What is clear is that the violation last night is not an isolated incident," Rutte said in a statement to reporters.
Rutte noted that numerous drones from Russia violated Polish airspace last night. "Our air defences were activated and successfully ensured the defence of NATO territory, as they are designed to do. Several Allies were involved alongside Poland. This included Polish F16s, Dutch F35s, Italian AWACS, NATO Multi Role Tanker Transport, and German Patriots. I commend the pilots and all who contributed to this quick and skillful response," he said.
"The Supreme Allied Commander will continue to actively manage our deterrence and defence posture along the entire eastern flank. Allies are resolved to defend every inch of Allied territory. We will closely monitor the situation along our eastern flank, our air defences continually at the ready," he said.
Rutte also stressed the importance of "NATO and the path to which Allies agreed at our Summit in The Hague earlier this year. We need to invest more in our defence, ramp up defence production so we have what we need to deter and defend, and we need to continue to support Ukraine, whose security is interlinked with our own." "And let me conclude by saying that Russia is waging a dangerous war of aggression against Ukraine that continually targets civilians and civilian infrastructure. Allies are determined to step up their support for Ukraine in the face of Russia's escalating campaign," he added.