“For the first time, NATO fighter jets have shot down Russian drones over Polish airspace. This is the most serious conflict between Russia and NATO since Moscow launched its full-scale war against Ukraine in February 2022″, wrote the Financial Times on 11 September, following NATO’s large-scale operation to shoot down Russian drones.
Per Olsson, Socialistisk Alternative (ISA in Sweden)
(This article was first published on 1 October 2025)
A few days later, on 13 September, a Russian drone violated Romanian airspace, and then three Russian fighter jets entered Estonian airspace for twelve minutes. This resulted in Estonia’s government, like the Polish government before it, activating Article 4 of the NATO Treaty, which states that NATO countries shall coordinate responses and attacks in a crisis situation. Since then, two more NATO countries, Lithuania and Latvia, have activated Article 4.
Russian violations of the airspace of Poland, Romania, and Estonia have been described as a historic test of NATO’s cohesion.
They seem primarily intended to test how far the US and Trump are prepared to go in response. The Trump administration’s response has been contradictory. But essentially, Washington believes that it is up to the European NATO countries to respond to Russian imperialism. This is also the Trump administration’s stance on the war in Ukraine, something that the Putin regime is now trying to capitalize on by escalating its drone war against the Ukrainian population while conquering new territory in the eastern part of the country.
Trump’s latest statement that Ukraine, with Europe’s help, can win back all the areas that Russia now occupies is an expression of this stance.
“If you read Trump’s entire post on Truth Social, you’ll see that he ends with ‘Good luck to all! In other words, he is wishing the EU, Ukraine and, in my interpretation, even Vladimir Putin good luck,” Max Bergmann, program director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank, told yle.se on 24 September.
The post on Truth Social may also be a first sign that Trump is considering abandoning his attempts to end the war in Ukraine.
“European officials are expressing growing concern that Donald Trump’s rhetoric on the war in Ukraine is aimed at giving the EU an impossible task and thus paving the way for the US president to shift the blame away from Washington if Ukraine falls or the money runs out,” reported the economic channel EFN on 25 September, citing the Financial Times.
The fact that Russian airspace violations also coincide with the Putin regime’s escalation of the war in Ukraine is contributing to the situation in the Baltic area becoming more tense than ever. The Swedish government’s bellicose rhetoric is increasing tensions in an already highly charged situation. “NATO is prepared for an armed conflict with Russia, and there are now opportunities to strengthen our military presence along the territory of all our allies furthest to the east,” said Defense Minister and hawk Pål Jonson last week.
These threats and similar statements from both other European governments and the Kremlin increase the risk of further armed confrontations between NATO and Russian imperialism, which could set off a chain of events beyond control.
Perhaps all the dangers inherent in the situation will have a restraining effect on both Russian imperialism and Western imperialism. But if so, it will only be temporary. Only the struggle and organization of the masses in Russia, Ukraine, and globally can open a path away from war and militarism. More than ever, a mass movement is needed that stands up against militarism and warmongering as well as against all imperialism.
We say:
- Global struggle against imperialist plunder, militarism, and war. Immediate military disarmament and a ban on nuclear weapons.
- Build a mass movement against war, violence, and oppression—for a socialist world of peace and freedom.
