British RAF fighters will take part in the air defense mission over Poland

The British Ministry of Defense announced on Monday that Typhoon Royal Air Force fighters (RAF) will perform a mission of air defense over Poland as part of the NATO Mission of the Eastern Guard.

The ministry's statement reads that “the involvement of Great Britain in defending every centimeter of NATO allies is unwavering.”

“Typhoon Raf fighters will join allies and perform the mission of air defense over Poland as part of the Eastern Guard after Russian drones in an irresponsible and dangerous manner invaded Poland last week” – the British ministry was said in a message.

In an interview with Channel 4 News, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Keir Starmer said that Great Britain would provide “further air defense over Poland” after the incident from last week, in which NATO forces shot down several Russian drones.

– This is the right thing to do. It would be improper to ignore this increased aggression on the part of Putin, on the part of Russia – he explained.

In the opinion of the head of the British government, Russian drones in the Polish sky were “it wasn't a one -time incident.” In an interview with the station, he reminded that a few weeks ago during a Russian attack on Kiev, the British Council building, the EU office and the headquarters of the Ukrainian government were destroyed.

– It is absolutely obvious that the Russians intensify aggression. It is very important that we and our allies with NATO react to it properly and that's what we do today – he added.

Typhoon aircraft from the RAF Coningsby base in Lincolnshire will take part in the mission. Voyager air tanker from the RAF Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire will also support.

The British Defense Minister John Healey said that “Great Britain is fully involved in playing his role as part of the Operation Eastern Guard, increasing even more military presence on the eastern flank of NATO.”

The statement issued by the Great Britain's government was published shortly after the Russian ambassador Andrey Kielin was called by the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs in connection with the “unprecedented violation” of NATO airspace by his country.

In addition to last week's invasion of Poland, the Romanian defense ministry announced at the weekend that the Russian drone entered the country and was intercepted by two F-16 fighters.

On the night of September 9-10, Polish airspace was repeatedly violated by Russian drones. Those that pose a direct threat were shot down by Polish and allied aviation; For the first time in the modern history of Poland in the airspace of the country, the air force used weapons.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Friday that the Alliance launches the Mission of the Eastern Guard to strengthen the eastern flank. The mission is to participate, among others Danish F-16, French Rafale and German Eurofightery.

From April to July this year, six RAF Typhoon aircraft were stationed in Poland as part of the extended NATO airspace patrol mission. At that time, the British fighters were picked up 20 times, spent nearly 500 hours in the air, working with Swedish planes.

From London Marta Zabłocka (PAP)

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