A senior U.S. Marine Corps official told lawmakers he believes that Russia’s drone incursion into Polish airspace earlier this week was most likely intentional.
Gen. Christopher Mahoney, the current Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps and President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday that his “assessment, based on what I know, is that it looks more intentional than not.”
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“If it wasn’t [intentional], there’s some significant incompetence there,” he added.
Mahoney’s comments, which came during his confirmation for the VCJCS position, are the first public remarks from a U.S. military leader regarding the intent of Russia’s incursion. Polish officials reported 19 “breaches” of its airspace on Tuesday night, which triggered a significant reaction from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
“If the Russians meant to do it, it was provocative. If they didn’t mean to do it, it’s an indication of incompetence. At any rate, I think what we’re seeing is the Polish armed forces, from their increase in defense spending to their increase in capability, being emblematic of that balance that we need to do,” Mahoney continued.
Polish F-16s and Dutch F-35s, Italian airborne early warning aircraft, and a refueler from the NATO Multinational Multi-Role Tanker Transport aircraft fleet responded to the threat, and German Patriot air defense systems in Poland were also put on alert. It was the first time in its history that NATO planes had engaged potential threats in allied airspace, according to Col. Martin L. O’Donnell, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe spokesman.
“Whether it was intentional or not,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Wednesday, “it is absolutely reckless, it is absolutely dangerous.”
NATO is conducting a full assessment of the incident.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the incident brought the country closer to a major conflict than at any point since World War II.
It isn’t the first time Russian drones have entered NATO airspace, but both how many there were and how far they went into Polish territory make this incident distinct from previous occurrences.
Poland is a NATO member, meaning that any attack on the country would trigger the alliance’s Article 5 clause, which states that an attack on any member is viewed as an attack against them all. The only time Article 5 has been invoked in the history of the alliance was in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
“What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!” President Donald Trump said.
Trump has tried to end the Russia-Ukraine war since the start of his second term, but has had little success through the first eight months of his administration. He met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in mid-August in Alaska, Putin’s first trip to the U.S. in a decade.
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Following their talk, Trump said he wanted to see a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and would be willing to attend if needed. Zelensky has accepted, while the Kremlin has dragged out the request.
Trump said last weekend, after a massive Russian aerial assault, that he was ready to move forward with a “second phase” of sanctions against Moscow, but the administration has not yet made any announcements.