Poland says that Russia is planning missile attacks against NATO countries

BarcelonaThe Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, has raised his tone against Russia on the day the country commemorates the 87th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. "As we know, history does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme, and today we must read these rhymes of history with the due seriousness," said the Polish leader, who in recent months has been one of the clearest in denouncing the increase in provocations and attacks by Vladimir Putin's regime in the framework of thehybrid war against Europe. "I would prefer to speak only of the heroic deeds recorded in history books, but Russia's escalation of aggression does not allow me to," he said in a video on social media.

"As a historian, I know perfectly well that Russia's methods of action have remained intact for centuries," he said, referring to "attacks on neighboring countries under the pretext of liberation." He listed some of the latest incidents and attacks on the country or its borders. "We do not seek war, but if anyone dares to attack us, they will receive a determined response from us and our allies," he said, insisting that Warsaw "will not be intimidated."

Poland is the country most affected by hybrid attacks attributed to Russia: it repeatedly suffers violations of its airspace, it has also suffered the incursion of drones into its territory, and last July a Russian missile impacted in an area near the border with Ukraine. Last weekend, a Russian drone attacked a passenger train traveling between Kyiv and Warsaw, just two kilometers from the border with Poland, shortly after former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and senior European security officials passed through the same track on a previous train. "Russia does not need to cross our border. It is already waging a hybrid war against us using drones, acts of sabotage, and disinformation on the internet," he said.

This very Thursday, thousands of students from various schools and workers in official buildings, including the city hall of the border city of Rzeszów, were evacuated when an alert was triggered due to Russian air attacks registered in Ukrainian territory just four kilometers from the border. The inhabitants of the eastern provinces of Lublin and Subcarpathia received a message on their mobile phones warning them of an "air attack" and urging them to "find a safe place and follow the instructions of the authorities". After the air alert was declared, the civil airports of Lublin and Rzeszów temporarily suspended operations and the Air Force deployed fighter jets on a patrol mission.

Message to the far right

The Polish Prime Minister has also issued a warning: "We know from our allies that the coming months may bring more provocations." And he went even further: he said that intelligence reports show "plans for hybrid attacks with drones and missiles against countries that support Ukraine," including Poland. "There is a real risk that drones or other types of projectiles could be launched into the territory of one or more NATO countries on the eastern flank, and they could even cause damage, and the official narrative will be that this is an accident and that there is no reason for anyone to consider any NATO response," he added. And he predicted that Russia will use these types of "recurrent" incidents as "an increasingly clear illustration of NATO's impotence" to respond in a unified manner.

The Polish leader has warned of the danger that political changes could occur in some European countries in which "power – or at least a powerful voice – is granted to those who, increasingly invoking slogans of peace, pacifism, and unnecessary casualties, will call for peace, or rather, the total capitulation of Ukraine." He did not cite any specific party, but the warning comes at a time of growth for Alternative for Germany, which has a pro-Russian tendency, and National Rally in France.