Polish Prime Minister warns Russia may launch drone and rocket strikes on Europe as Carpathian Eight meets in Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy opened the first ever “Carpathian Eight” summit on Friday in the ski‑town of Bukovel, Ivano‑Frankivsk region, inviting leaders from seven neighboring countries and the European Union. The gathering was meant to tighten ties, discuss energy, security and logistics, and—if you ask the participants—show a united front against Russian aggression.

But even as the delegates exchanged handshakes and optimistic statements, a darker cloud hovered over the talks. Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, warned in a press briefing before his flight to Ukraine that Moscow is already plotting hybrid strikes—think drones buzzing over borders or rockets firing from the sky—against any European nation that continues to support Kyiv.

“We have credible intelligence that Russia is testing the limits of its hybrid warfare,” Tusk said, his tone a mix of caution and resolve. “If we are helping Ukraine, we must be prepared for retaliation that could reach our own airspace.” The comment echoed recent accusations from Germany, Denmark and Polish officials who claim Russian‑linked drones have already trespassed NATO territory, sabotaged infrastructure, and even tried to set fire to a civilian airport.

These concerns are not merely rhetorical. Over the past week, several Russian‑suspected drone incursions have been reported across the Baltic states, while a suspicious drone carrying explosives was reportedly spotted near a Polish military base. The incidents have spurred Warsaw to boost its air‑defence readiness and to call for a NATO‑style rapid‑response unit that could deal with “below‑threshold” aggression—actions that stop short of full‑scale war but still threaten national security.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen echoed that sentiment on Wednesday, urging the EU to create a coordinated mechanism to react to hybrid attacks. “We need a consensus on how to answer incidents that fall below armed aggression but clearly jeopardise our safety,” she said, pointing to the growing blur between cyber‑espionage, misinformation campaigns and physical strikes.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin used a separate government meeting to dismiss Western claims as a pretext for higher defence spending. He warned that any seizure of Russian merchant vessels—what Moscow calls “piracy”—would provoke a response, not necessarily in the same waters but wherever Moscow deems fit. His remarks came after the EU and the United Kingdom detained several tankers suspected of sailing for Russia’s shadow fleet, a network that helps Moscow evade sanctions by moving oil and other commodities under false flags.

The diplomatic back‑and‑forth continued on Friday when Russia’s foreign ministry summoned the British chargé d’affaires, condemning the United Kingdom’s “fiercely confrontational stance” for supplying drones and other weapons to Kyiv. The British Foreign Office, for its part, affirmed its commitment to arm Ukraine, calling Moscow’s protest “another attempt to deflect attention from its barbaric invasion.”

All of this is happening against the backdrop of Russia’s first wartime parliamentary elections, a vote that analysts say will cement Putin’s grip on power with virtually no opposition. In Kyiv, Zelenskyy used his Telegram channel to describe the Carpathian Eight summit as “a significant beginning” of a broader movement to strengthen ties not only between the eight nations but also at the EU level.

For now, the message from Warsaw is clear: European solidarity with Ukraine will not be a free‑ticket for Russian retaliation. As Tusk put it, “We can choose peace, but we must also be ready to defend it.” The world will be watching whether that warning translates into concrete defensive steps, or whether the hybrid threat remains a shadow looming over the continent.