Alarms bells sounded this week in Europe after NATO jets scrambled to intercept an unprecedented Russian drone incursion in Poland. Now there is fresh unease on NATO’s eastern flank, as Russia and Belarus kick off major military drills to test the readiness of their armed forces.

Polish F-16 fighters, Dutch F-35 fighters, German Patriot air defense systems and an Italian AWACS surveillance aircraft were all deployed, and three of the drones were downed. Others crashed, including near villages in eastern Poland.

Nato fighter jets shot down Russian drones over Poland in the first ever direct engagement between the Western alliance and Moscow.

Jen Psaki explains that after NATO members in Europe responded with alarm to an incursion of Russian drones into Poland, risking a drastic escalation, Donald Trump seemed more inclined to make excuses for Vladimir Putin than to stand with allies in discouraging Russian belligerence.

European leaders voiced alarm after Warsaw said Polish forces shot down several Russian drones that crossed into Poland on Wednesday, the first direct military engagement of a NATO country since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Russia's drone incursions into NATO members risk escalating into "exchange (of) the use of military power against each other", Lithuanian Foreign Affairs minister Kestutis Budrys told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday,

On TV Trump Praises Great Putin Ties While Allies Claim Russian Attack On NATO Territory Poland