THE HAGUE: The Netherlands’ air force provided support in shooting down Russian drones over Poland overnight, Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on Wednesday.
“It is good that Dutch F35 fighter jets were able to provide support,” he said on X. “The Netherlands stands shoulder to shoulder with our Nato ally Poland.”
Schoof said the “violation” of Polish airspace by Russian drones was “further evidence that Russia’s aggressive war poses a threat to European security”.
He said he had expressed his support to the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and had contact with Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte.
The Dutch defence ministry said earlier this year it would deploy F-35 jets to Poland for three months from September 1 to help patrol the airspace.
Poland’s military said earlier that the country’s airspace was “repeatedly” violated by drones during a Russian attack on Ukraine.
Russian drones and missiles have crossed into the airspace of Nato members Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania several times during the three-and-a-half-year war.
Poland hosts over a million Ukrainian refugees and is a key transit point for Western humanitarian and military aid to the war-torn country. – AFP
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