Trump urges NATO to shoot down foreign aircraft

“With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option. Why not?”

While he expressed strong opinions in his social media post, Trump made no policy decision on economic sanctions or tariffs to put pressure on Putin, despite calls from European leaders for tougher US action. He confirmed the US would continue selling military equipment to NATO allies to help Ukraine.

“Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act,” he wrote. “In any event, I wish both Countries well.” He added: “Good luck to all!”

NATO members met on Tuesday to consider the Russian violation of Estonian airspace after Estonia invoked Article 4 of the defence pact to call for consultations with allies. Poland invoked the same provision after more than 20 Russian drones flew into its airspace in recent weeks.

“We do not want to see a continuation of this dangerous pattern by Russia – intentional or not,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said after the talks.

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“But we stand ready and willing to continue to defend every inch of Allied territory.”

Asked by journalists if that meant shooting down Russian aircraft, Rutte said the alliance would act with “calm determination” and would decide on how to engage in each case.

In the Estonian incident, he said, there was no immediate threat and it was not necessary to fire on the Russian fighter jets.

“We always act decisively and quickly, and always assess the threat levels and make sure that if there is immediate threat, of course, we will not hesitate to do what is necessary to protect our cities, our people, our infrastructure,” he said.

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Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Monday that shooting down was an option.

“We will take the decision to shoot down flying objects when they violate our territory and fly over Poland – there is absolutely no discussion about that,” he said.

He added, however, that the flight by the Russian jets over the Baltic Sea near Poland last Friday did not justify this kind of response.

“When we’re dealing with situations that aren’t entirely clear, such as the recent flight of Russian fighter jets over the Petrobaltic platform – but without any violation because these aren’t our territorial waters – you really need to think twice before deciding on actions that could trigger a very acute phase of conflict,” he said.

A drone incursion at Denmark’s main airport has also triggered warnings about growing attacks on essential infrastructure.

The Danish government said it was treating it as an attack on Copenhagen airport and was not ruling out Russia as the culprit, after authorities halted flights on Monday when two or three drones flew into the controlled airspace.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned of a “pattern” of moves designed to test allied borders and said critical infrastructure was at risk, but did not name Russia as being behind the attacks.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, however, linked the Copenhagen shutdown to the recent Russian drone flights over Poland as well as the cyberattack last Friday that shut down check-in systems at Heathrow, Brussels and Berlin airports.

“What we saw last night is the most serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure to date,” Frederiksen said in a statement on Tuesday.

“We are obviously not ruling out any options in relation to who is behind it. And it is clear that this fits in with the developments we have observed recently with other drone attacks, violations of airspace, and hacker attacks on European airports.”

Asked about Russian involvement when she spoke to Danish broadcaster DR, she said: “I certainly cannot deny in any way that it is Russia.”

The events fuelling the concerns have included the violation of Polish airspace two weeks ago, as well as the flight of a Russian drone over Romanian territory days later.

Three Russian jets violated Estonian airspace for 12 minutes last Friday, before being intercepted and escorted out of the territory by Italian aircraft.

On the same day, two Russian fighter jets flew through the safety zone of the Petrobaltic drilling platform in the Baltic Sea near Poland.

Hours later, hackers took down software supplied by American company Collins Aerospace to run check-in systems at major airports, disrupting passengers at Heathrow, Berlin and Brussels airports through the weekend. Some systems kept operating but dozens of flights were cancelled over the weekend.

The events have fuelled concerns about strategic attacks designed to weaken major European nations when they are supporting Ukraine in the war with Russia, but the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity blamed the cyber strike on hackers.

“The type of ransomware has been identified. Law enforcement is involved to investigate,” the agency said.

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While the Danish prime minister did not rule out Russia, there was no official statement on the source of the drones at Copenhagen airport. Authorities said two or three drones flashed their lights on and off during the four-hour incursion, before flying away.

Danish police chief superintendent Jens Jespersen said authorities were investigating several possibilities, such as whether the drones were launched from ships.

Authorities in Norway also shut the airspace at Oslo airport for three hours after a drone was seen.