Donald Trump said he would help defend Poland and the Baltic states in the event of an escalation by Russia.
“Yeah, I would,” the U.S. president told a reporter when asked about it. He did not specify what form that assistance might take.
Earlier in September, news broke that the United States was ending funding for programs to train and equip troops in Eastern European countries that could find themselves on the front lines of a conflict with Russia — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
On the night of September 10, about 20 drones entered Polish airspace. Most were so-called “false targets” — decoys launched to overload air defense systems. Poland and NATO said the drones were Russian. The Kremlin categorically denied launching drones toward Poland.
At first, Trump suggested the drone incursion into Poland might have been a mistake. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk rejected that claim, and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski wrote: “No, that wasn’t a mistake.” Following the incident, NATO countries launched an operation called Eastern Sentry to reinforce defenses along the alliance’s eastern borders.