Ukraine currently shields NATO’s air defense – French expert

French aviation and space expert Xavier Tytelman stated this in a comment to Ukrinform.

“This time, it is the first coordinated, deliberate, and massive attack on a NATO member state by Russian drones,” he emphasized.

The expert explained that if drones penetrate several kilometers into the territory, it can still be considered a navigation failure. “But when they fly dozens of kilometers in a straight line for more than an hour over Polish territory – that is a deliberate intent. Previously, one could assume coincidence. Now, for the first time, there is no doubt about Russia’s desire for escalation and its attempt to make us afraid and stop supporting Ukraine,” Tytelman stressed, adding that this is a political signal from Moscow.

He clarified that the drone incursions took place from several directions, including through Belarus. “These are kamikaze drones with explosives onboard, in other words, armed systems that deliberately violated Polish airspace. This is Russia’s deliberate intent,” the expert noted.

Tytelman also emphasized that, for the first time, NATO countries did not limit themselves to monitoring but responded by downing these objects. “The big difference is that this time there was a real response – interception and destruction of the drones after their incursion. This is indeed an important event,” he said.

According to him, the 6–8 drones in question were only those not intercepted by Ukraine.

“Because to reach Poland from Russia, they had to fly for more than two hours over Ukrainian territory. And we can imagine that more than 80 percent of these drones are destroyed by Ukrainians before they even reach Poland. In fact, it is Ukraine that is currently shielding NATO’s air defense. And if the Ukrainians had not done this work by shooting down the majority of drones, perhaps ten times more would have entered Poland that night. This is indeed a very serious signal,” the expert concluded.

As reported, on the night of September 10, Polish forces shot down drones that violated Polish airspace.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that Polish forces detected 19 drones violating the country’s airspace, with about four drones downed.

NATO invoked Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty. Warsaw appealed to the Alliance to apply this provision following the “unprecedented” violation of its airspace amid a large-scale Russian attack, including on western Ukraine.

Article 4 of the collective treaty provides for consultations among member states when one of them considers its territorial integrity, political independence, or security to be under threat.

Photo: Xavier Tytelman / Facebook