NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte pledged Monday to increase support for Ukraine and strengthen the alliance’s eastern defenses after Russian drone attacks struck close to Poland, including one that hit a train shortly after senior European officials passed through the station.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte vowed Monday to increase military support for Ukraine and reinforce the alliance’s eastern defenses after a series of Russian drone strikes near Poland’s border raised fresh concerns that Moscow’s expanding air campaign could increasingly threaten NATO territory.

Speaking at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Rutte characterized Sunday’s attacks near the frontier as evidence of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s growing recklessness and an effort to intimidate countries supporting Kyiv.

The strikes “close to NATO territory” demonstrate Putin’s “desperation and also his desire to sow fear and terror,” Rutte said.

“Russia is growing increasingly reckless as it continues its terrible war against Ukraine.”

Rutte said the attacks would not deter the 32-member alliance from assisting Kyiv and pledged additional support for Ukraine while strengthening NATO’s defenses along its extensive eastern frontier with Russia.

“He thinks that he can stop us from supporting Ukraine and that he can undermine our unity. He is wrong,” Rutte said of Putin.

The warning came as Poland moved to increase security along its border with Ukraine following Sunday’s attacks, including two Russian drones that came down within kilometers of Polish territory.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned that Russia may be preparing a more intense phase of operations near Ukraine’s borders with European countries, potentially increasing the risk that the conflict affects neighboring NATO members.

“These coming weeks and months will be a time of very intensified actions on the Russian side, and unfortunately we cannot rule out that this escalation will also affect our territory,” Tusk said Sunday following a government security briefing in Warsaw.

Tusk had issued a similar warning Thursday.

The security concerns deepened Monday when Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said the country’s military had recovered what authorities believed to be a Russian military drone from the Baltic Sea near Jaroslawiec, a coastal village in northern Poland.

Polish officials have also pointed to intelligence assessments, including a CIA briefing received last week, indicating that Russia may intensify attacks against border crossings and increase sabotage activities inside European countries as part of an effort to weaken Western backing for Ukraine.

Tusk said Poland would consult other NATO members about preparations for a possible coordinated response.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski separately emphasized what he described as NATO Europe’s substantial military advantage over Russia. In a social media post, Sikorski said that if Russia attacked NATO, European members’ air forces could, even without U.S. participation, destroy half of Russia’s oil-refining capacity faster than Ukraine could.

Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk called Sunday’s attacks a serious escalation.

Tomczyk told TVN24 on Monday that any expansion of Russian activity into European countries could include sabotage, actions around NATO’s borders or an intensification of hybrid warfare “on a scale that we have not seen before.”

The latest alarm followed Sunday’s Russian attack on railway infrastructure near the Polish border.

A drone struck a train near the frontier only minutes after a diplomatic delegation that included former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt had passed through the same station, according to Ukraine’s state railway operator.

A second Russian strike occurred near another crossing point along the Polish-Ukrainian border.

The train attack occurred approximately two kilometers from Poland, and Ukraine’s railway operator said it was possible the diplomatic train had been an intended target. The delegation had departed the station earlier than originally scheduled because of adjustments prompted by the continuing threat of Russian attacks.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Monday that the proximity and circumstances of the attacks appeared intended to intimidate Ukraine’s Western partners.

The strikes were “clearly meant to scare Western countries from supporting Ukraine,” Kallas said.

“We should show that we are there for Ukraine and we are not scared.”

Kallas said European countries should respond by continuing their support rather than allowing Moscow’s actions to discourage officials from traveling to Ukraine or backing Kyiv.

The latest attacks come as Ukraine faces an increasingly intensive Russian aerial campaign involving ballistic missiles and newer jet-powered drones designed to penetrate air defenses.

Polish officials have increasingly warned that activity around Ukraine’s western borders may form part of a broader strategy extending beyond conventional battlefield operations.

The concerns include possible attacks against border infrastructure and hybrid activities inside European countries, including sabotage intended to increase political pressure on governments assisting Ukraine.

The Kremlin offered no indication Monday that Russia intended to reduce operations near Ukraine’s western frontier.

Asked about the attack involving the train near Poland, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian forces were operating “across the entire territory of Ukraine and continues to do so — and will continue to do so.”

Peskov also discussed diplomatic efforts to end the war, saying countries outside the West could use their relationships with Kyiv to encourage negotiations.

“Any country can use its influence on the Kyiv regime to encourage it to show greater flexibility,” Peskov said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have each expressed willingness to assist in efforts to broker a settlement during recent meetings with Putin, according to Peskov, who said the Russian president briefed both leaders on the conflict.

The Kremlin on Monday also welcomed President Donald Trump’s request that Ukraine stop attacking Russian facilities involved in producing diesel fuel.

“Any call on the Kyiv regime to stop strikes on civilian economic infrastructure can only be welcomed,” Peskov said.

Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday to stop targeting Russian oil refineries and other infrastructure involved in producing and distributing diesel, arguing that the attacks were contributing to an international fuel shortage.

Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russian refineries with long-range drones, saying the attacks are intended to reduce Moscow’s fuel production and increase the economic costs of continuing the war.

Trump’s request followed a surge in U.S. diesel prices past an average of $6 per gallon.

While Washington presses Kyiv to curtail attacks on Russian fuel infrastructure, NATO and European officials are moving in the opposite direction in response to Russian strikes near Poland, promising continued support for Ukraine and greater attention to the alliance’s eastern defenses.

Rutte said Moscow should not interpret attacks near NATO territory as a means of dividing Ukraine’s supporters.

His message Monday was that the alliance intends to respond to Russia’s increasing pressure along Europe’s eastern frontier not by reducing its involvement, but by strengthening its backing for Kyiv and its own defenses against potential spillover from the war.

Original article