Volodymyr Zelensky stated that over 90 Russian drones were heading towards Poland on the night of September 9-10, but Ukraine shot down most of them in its airspace. He also said that Vladimir Putin will expand the war in Ukraine by attacking another European country.
Putin is testing Europe’s ability to respond to his hybrid attacks and has so far demonstrated that Europeans do not have the capability to defend their airspace against Russia’s modern drones, said the President of Ukraine in a press conference on Saturday, as reported by Ukrainska Pravda.
"Take the example of a Polish case. 92 drones were heading towards Poland. We shot down all of them. 19 reached their territory. Yes, we shot them down over Ukraine, of course. One could say they were heading towards us, but we see the direction and, as they say, the choreography of that flight. So, we believe 92 were launched. We shot down all of them. 19, we believe, reached Poland. Four were destroyed by the Poles," Zelensky said.
From the words of the Ukrainian President, it appears that 19 drones with a different trajectory were not intercepted by Ukrainian forces and reached Poland, but all the others up to the total of 92 were shot down in Ukraine.
Zelensky also said that Russia will expand its war in Ukraine by attacking another European country. "Putin will not wait to finish his war in Ukraine. He will open another front. No one knows where. He wants this," said the Ukrainian president, according to The Guardian.
He mentioned that he does not want to compare the strength of the Ukrainian and Polish armies. "We are at war, they are not at war," he said.
Zelensky also stated that Ukraine is willing to share its experience in countering Russian drones: "We have sent signals to certain countries... We will send our people to some... And representatives of some countries will come to Ukraine."
He listed the countries facing suspicious drone flyovers, suggesting that Russia is testing the reaction of the public opinion in these nations, mentioning Romania as well.
"You can see Norway, Denmark. There are signals, I believe, this morning, from Sweden. There is Romania, there are the Poles, and there are the Baltic states. He (Putin) is checking what the Europeans have. And secondly, I am sure he is sending signals before winter, so those countries very close to Ukraine feel what is happening in their society and how prepared they are to continue supporting Ukraine," the leader from Kiev said.
Polish authorities announced that 19 Russian drones violated their airspace on the night of September 9-10, with some of them penetrating nearly 300 km from the eastern border.
On September 18, Ukraine and Poland agreed to establish a joint operational group on unmanned aerial systems, composed of representatives from the Ukrainian and Polish armed forces.
T.D.