Sikorski, who is also a deputy prime minister, wrote on X: “No, it was not a mistake,” responding to Trump’s comment that the breach of Polish airspace by Russian drones “could have been a mistake” and that he was “not happy about anything having to do with that whole situation” but hoped it would end.
Poland’s Operational Command said the country’s airspace was violated multiple times during Russia’s nighttime attack on Ukraine, calling it “an act of aggression that created a real threat to the safety of our citizens.”
Defensive procedures were activated immediately on the order of the Operational Commander, and drones posing a direct threat were shot down, the command said.
Trump’s remark — made to reporters before departing for New York — was only his second public comment on the incident, after expressing surprise in a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday.
Sikorski began a visit to Ukraine on Friday. In Kyiv, he met British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper to discuss the situation in Ukraine and security along NATO’s eastern flank in the context of the drone attack on Poland, Poland’s foreign ministry said on X. Jonathan Powell, the British prime minister’s security adviser, attended the meeting.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, greeted Sikorski at Kyiv’s railway station and said the two countries would remain united in the face of Russia’s escalating terror and provocations against Poland. Polish foreign ministry spokesperson Paweł Wroński said Sikorski would meet top Ukrainian officials as well as representatives of other Western countries during the trip.
Sybiha said key talks in Kyiv would cover joint security, Ukraine’s accession to the European Union and NATO, and exerting pressure on Moscow, while thanking Poland for its leadership and support.
Sikorski last visited Kyiv on Sept. 13, 2024, for a three-day trip that included meetings with President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s foreign minister and other senior officials, during which he discussed the resumption of exhumations and dignified burials of victims of the Volhynia massacre.
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Source: PAP