Nineteen suspected Russian drones entered Polish airspace on Monday, where they were intercepted by a joint operation that included Polish, Dutch, and Italian aircraft as well as German Patriot missiles. This marked the first time that NATO militaries had fired shots during the Russian war in Ukraine as well as the first time that NATO aircraft have engaged potential threats in allied airspace.

It was not the first time Russian aircraft and weapons have crossed into NATO territory, as the nation’s campaign of drone and missile strikes targeting Ukrainian cities and infrastructure has escalated over the course of the three-and-a-half-year war. Fragments of Russian drones have repeatedly landed in NATO member Romania, which borders Ukraine. In a 2022 incident, two people were killed in Poland by a Ukrainian air defense missile that veered off course; initial media reports suggested the missile was Russian.

But Polish authorities have made clear that this time is different. They are treating this as a deliberate provocation, rather than an accident.

“When one or two drones does it, it is possible that it was a technical malfunction,” said Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister. “In this case, there were 19 breaches, and it simply defies imagination that that could be accidental.”

Germany’s defense minister, Boris Pistorius, agreed that the drones were “clearly set on this course” to reach Poland. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that a full assessment of the incident is ongoing but that “whether it was intentionally or not, it is absolutely reckless. It is absolutely dangerous.”

Poland has invoked NATO’s Article 4, which provides for joint consultation of the allies whenever the security or territorial integrity of one of them is threatened. This is a step short of the better-known Article 5, which calls for allies to come to each other’s aid in the event of an attack, but the Polish government is certainly not downplaying the stakes. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that while Poland is not at war, “This situation brings us the closest we have been to open conflict since World........

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