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NATO Will Respond With Force to Russian Drone Threats, UK Defense Secretary Warns
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![Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko]( "Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko")
UK Defense Secretary John Healey has warned that NATO will “respond with unity and strength” to any threats, pledging that British Typhoon fighter jets are ready to destroy Russian drones if they again violate Alliance airspace.
This was reported by The Guardian on September 16.
“If you’ve got drones that are putting Polish lives at risk, then NATO will take the action to take them out,” Healey said, stressing that the Typhoon jets are part of a wider mission to “defend NATO airspace,” Healey said.
His comments came after Romania became the second NATO member state in recent days to suffer an incursion by a Russian drone. Healey underlined that the Typhoon mission could be expanded to Romania if required.
“They are deployed as part of the NATO Eastern Sentry air policing. What NATO decides to and where it decides to deploy them will be for NATO. That’s part of our contribution to the alliance,” he explained.
When asked whether the UK considered Russia’s drone violations of Polish airspace intentional, Healey noted: “There’s no firm confirmation on intent, but in the end that’s not the point. It’s still reckless, it’s still dangerous.” It was, he added, “straight out of the [Vladimir] Putin playbook.”
Earlier, a Russian Shahed drone breached Romanian airspace, where it remained for nearly 50 minutes before flying back into Ukraine.
