Sikorski confronts Lavrov as tensions rise; Russian helicopter enters Polish airspace
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski used a UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday to deliver a direct message to his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov: that after more than four years of full-scale war, Russia had failed to achieve its central objectives in Ukraine, and lacked the economic weight to outlast the countries supporting Kyiv. “You have been trying to conquer Donbas for over 12 years and Kyiv for over four,” Sikorski said. Ukraine, he noted, has only one-tenth of Russia’s GDP. But Poland alone has almost half Russia’s GDP, while Europe has roughly 10 times as much and NATO 25 times as much. “You can still kill a lot of people, but you cannot win,” Sikorski said. “You can stop this imperial war of choice at any time.” He ended by addressing Lavrov personally: “Sergey, I know you’re listening. Tell your boss: enough is enough.”
Hours before Sikorski spoke in New York, a Russian Mi-8 helicopter flying from the Kaliningrad region crossed into Polish airspace north of Braniewo at 11:08 on Wednesday. According to Poland’s Operational Command, it penetrated about 300 metres into Polish territory and remained there for 42 seconds. Warsaw scrambled fighter jets and raised the readiness of its ground-based defences. The Operational Command said the flight pattern suggested Moscow was again probing Poland’s ability to respond. The pressure continued on Thursday morning, this time from attacks inside Ukraine. PM Donald Tusk said Russian strikes close to the Polish border forced authorities to evacuate the border crossings at Hrubieszow and Dorohusk. “Just as we were talking, Ukraine was attacked again near the Polish border,” Tusk said during a meeting with Bulgarian PM Rumen Radev. He warned that “autumn and winter may be critical”.
The incidents come as Warsaw is seeking stronger security guarantees from Washington and dealing with an unexpected hitch in talks over a permanent US military presence. Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz had been due to meet his US counterpart Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon on Wednesday, with a permanent US Army base in Poland among the expected topics. The visit was cancelled at Washington’s urgent request, officially because of a scheduling conflict connected with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the US. No replacement date has been announced. The timing caused unease in Warsaw. Onet reported, citing unnamed government sources, that some Polish officials suspect Hegseth may be seeking to slow discussions on the permanent base. Subsequent reporting, however, indicated that the Pentagon initially tried merely to change the meeting’s time before cancelling it, suggesting the explanation may be less straightforward. The uncertainty comes days after Donald Trump said “significant progress” had been made towards establishing a US Army base in Poland and suggested its location could soon be announced.
