NATO countries are “at war” with Russia by providing military assistance to Ukraine, Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian journalists during a September 15 briefing. Just days earlier, Poland had shot down Russian drones, representing the first recorded instance of a NATO member targeting Moscow’s forces within its own borders. Peskov repeated Russia’s narrative that Western countries are participating in war by providing help to Ukraine.
Peskov said: “NATO is at war with Russia; this is obvious and needs no proof. NATO provides direct and indirect support to the Kyiv regime.”
Polish analysts have reported that the statement echoes Russian disinformation narratives that proliferated following the drone incursion, including claims suggesting the incident had drawn Warsaw into a conflict with Moscow.
Poland’s national research institute, NASK, has reported a surge in disinformation activity from Russian and Belarusian sources following the drone incursion, according to the Kyiv Independent.
Among the narratives identified by Polish researchers is the false claim that the incident means Poland is effectively at war with Russia- an assertion NASK warns could “cause panic among the public.”
While Poland and other NATO members have provided Kyiv with weapons, training, and financial aid to support Ukraine’s right to self-defence, they are not combatants in the conflict. The war in Ukraine is being waged solely by Russia.
The campaign’s chief goal is to “shift the responsibility for violating Polish airspace onto Ukraine and to discredit the actions taken by the Polish military and security services,” NASK said.
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski told the Kyiv Independent that the concept of establishing a NATO-protected no-fly zone over parts of Ukraine could be reconsidered following the recent attacks.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, known for his fiery rhetoric, warned that any NATO attempt to enforce such a no-fly zone would trigger “war between NATO and Russia.”
On September 13, Romania scrambled F-16 fighter jets after a drone entered its airspace during a Russian strike near the Ukrainian border. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the drone remained over Romanian territory for almost an hour.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas condemned the incident, calling it a “reckless escalation.”