LONDON: Britain on Monday summoned the Russian ambassador in London following Moscow’s “unprecedented violation” of NATO airspace, as the UK announced it would send fighter jets to help defend Polish airspace.
The Foreign Office called the incursions into Polish and Romanian airspace in recent days “unacceptable” and summoned Andrei Kelin, the Russian ambassador.
“Significant and unprecedented violation of Polish and NATO airspace by Russian drones last week, followed by a further incursion into Romanian airspace on Saturday, was utterly unacceptable,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Russia should understand that its continued aggression only strengthens the unity between NATO allies and our determination to stand with Ukraine, and any further incursions will again be met with force,” the ministry added. “Russia must end its illegal war on Ukraine.”
“The UK stands united with Poland, Romania, Ukraine and our NATO allies in unreservedly condemning these reckless actions,” the office added.
Multiple Russian drones crossed into Poland on Wednesday in what European officials described as a provocation, causing NATO to send fighter jets to shoot them down.
Russia said Poland wasn’t targeted, and Moscow’s ally Belarus said the drones went astray because they were jammed. But European leaders have expressed certainty that the incursion was deliberate, underlining long-held concerns about the expansion of Russia’s more than three-year war in Ukraine.
Polish airspace has been violated several times since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but there has been nothing on the scale of Wednesday’s violations in Poland or in any other NATO country.
Romania said Saturday it deployed two F-16 jets to intercept a drone that briefly entered its airspace. The country’s defense ministry said the drone did not fly over inhabited areas and did not represent an imminent danger to the public.
Britain’s military said Monday that Royal Air Force fighter jets will join several other European nations in air-defense missions over Poland.
Britain’s Defense Ministry said the Typhoon jets will join planes from Denmark, France and Germany in the mission, dubbed Eastern Sentry, which involves extra European fighter jets, a warship and air defense systems along with existing air policing and ground defenses.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said “Russia’s reckless behavior is a direct threat to European security and a violation of international law, which is why the UK will support NATO’s efforts to bolster its eastern flank through Eastern Sentry.”
UK summons Russian ambassador over violation of NATO airspace and sends jets to Poland
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UK summons Russian ambassador over violation of NATO airspace and sends jets to Poland
- Foreign Office called the incursions into Polish and Romanian airspace “unacceptable” and summoned the Russian ambassador
- British fighter jets will join several other European nations in air-defense missions over Poland
Pakistani Taliban kill six soldiers in checkpoint attack
- Pakistan has faced a surge in militant attacks along its border regions since the Taliban authorities retook control in Kabul in 2021
PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Pakistani Taliban militants stormed a security checkpoint in Pakistan’s northwestern border area with Afghanistan, killing six soldiers and wounding four others, a government official said Tuesday.
Pakistan has faced a surge in militant attacks along its border regions since the Taliban authorities retook control in Kabul in 2021.
It accuses Afghanistan of harboring the insurgents, a claim the Taliban government denies.
Late Monday, more than a dozen armed men attacked the checkpoint, leading to a heavy exchange of fire in Kurram, a tribal district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Six security personnel were martyred and four were injured, while two militants were also killed in the fighting,” the government official posted in Kurram, who was not authorized to speak to the media, told AFP on the condition of anonymity.
The Pakistani Taliban group, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has long been active in the region, and claimed responsibility for the attack.
Pakistan accuses the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan of sheltering TTP militants and allowing them to launch cross-border attacks from there — a charge Kabul denies.
The border between the two countries has been closed since the clashes in October, though Pakistan said last week it would allow UN aid supplies to pass to Afghanistan soon.
The attack comes days after an exchange of gunfire and shelling between Afghan and Pakistani forces at a major border crossing that killed four civilians and one soldier, according to Afghanistan.
Each side accused the other of starting the fighting.
