Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on September 13, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleMarco Rubio criticizes Russian drone incursion into Poland, prompting NATO to bolster defense. Poland disputes Trump's mistake theory.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday said the incursion of Russian drones into Polish airspace this week was unacceptable but that it remained unclear if Russia had deliberately sent the drones into Polish territory.
NATO announced plans to beef up the defense of Europe's eastern flank on Friday, after Poland shot down drones that had violated its airspace, the first known shots fired by a member of the Western alliance during Russia's war in Ukraine.
"We think it's an unacceptable and unfortunate and dangerous development," Rubio told reporters before departing on a trip to Israel and Britain.
"No doubt about it: the drones were intentionally launched. The question is whether the drones were targeted to go into Poland specifically."
Rubio said that if the drones were targeted at Poland, "if the evidence leads us there, then obviously that'll be a highly escalatory move."
"There are a number of other possibilities as well, but I think we'd like to have all the facts and consult with our allies before we make specific determinations," he added.
On Friday, Poland rejected U.S. President Donald Trump's suggestion that the incursions could have been a mistake, a rare contradiction of the U.S. president from one of Washington's closest European allies. Its foreign minister told Reuters that Poland hoped Washington would take action to show solidarity with Warsaw.
At the United Nations on Friday, the U.S. called the airspace violations "alarming" and vowed to "defend every inch of NATO territory."
Russia has said its forces had been attacking Ukraine at the time of the drone incursions and that it had not intended to hit targets in Poland.
(Reporting by Jason Lange, Simon Lewis and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and Matthew Lewis)
Marco Rubio called the incursion of Russian drones into Polish airspace unacceptable, emphasizing the need for clarity on whether the drones were specifically targeted at Poland.
Poland shot down the drones that violated its airspace, marking the first known military action by a NATO member against Russia in this context.
NATO announced plans to enhance the defense of Europe's eastern flank following the drone violations, indicating a serious concern over the situation.
The U.S. described the airspace violations as alarming and reaffirmed its commitment to defend every inch of NATO territory.
Russia claimed that its forces were attacking Ukraine at the time of the drone incursions and stated that it did not intend to hit targets in Poland.
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