Ukraine-Russia war latest: Poland asks Nato to impose no-fly zone over Ukraine to stop Putin’s drone incursions – UK Times

Poland has called for a Nato-enforced no-fly zone over Ukraine, stating it would be the best way to protect the alliance from incursions into its own member states’ airspace.

Poland’s foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski’s remarks come after 19 Russian drones violated his country’s airspace last week and another Russian drone entered Romanian airspace over the weekend.

“Protection for our population – for example, from falling debris – would naturally be greater if we could combat drones and other flying objects beyond our national territory,” Sikorski said.

“We as Nato and the EU could be capable of doing this, but it is not a decision that Poland can make alone; it can only be made with its allies,” he told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine.

Poland would be able to shoot down Russian drones over Ukrainian territory, he said, calling it an “advantageous” move.

“If Ukraine were to ask us to shoot them down over its territory, that would be advantageous for us. If you ask me personally, we should consider it,” Sikorski said.

Canadian prime minister Mark Carney on Monday said he had spoken to US president Donald Trump over the weekend about the situation in Russia, Ukraine and China.

Carney, speaking in the House of Commons, made no mention of discussing US tariffs on some imports from Canada.

The UK will deploy RAF jets to Poland in response to Russian drones violating the country’s airspace.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said Britain would provide further air defence over Poland following last week’s incident in which Russian drones were shot down by Nato forces.

He told Channel 4 News: “That is the right thing to do. The wrong thing to do would be to ignore this increased aggression from (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, from Russia.

“Because this wasn’t a one-off. You saw only a few weeks ago the bombing of the British Council in Kyiv, the attacking of the EU embassy, and the direct hits on the Council of Ministers in Kyiv itself.”

He added: “It’s absolutely clear that the Russians are ramping up the aggression. It’s very important that, with our Nato allies, we respond appropriately to that and that’s what we’re doing today.”

Ukraine’s top military commander has sacked two senior officers after Kyiv’s army gave up territory in areas under their command, Ukrainian media reported on Monday, quoting military sources.

Ukrainska Pravda, citing two senior military sources, said top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi ordered the dismissal of the two officers in charge of the 17th and 20th army corps over the past two weeks. The Interfax Ukraine news agency filed a similar report.

Ukrainska Pravda said the 17th army corps, headed by Volodymyr Silenko, was located in Zaporizhzhia region, where the Ukrainian military had lost at least one village on the banks of the Dnipro River.

The 20th army corps, headed by Maksym Kituhin, was based on the administrative border between eastern Donetsk region and central Dnipropetrovsk region, where Russian forces have announced a series of successes, capturing a number of villages.

Interfax said the two officers had been transferred to other duties.

Russia’s Defence Ministry on Monday said its forces had seized the village of Olhivske in Zaporizhzhia region.

As the war has been going on for more than 3 1/2 years, Russian forces have been engaged in a long, grinding westward drive focusing on Donetsk region.

In addition to the advances announced just inside Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian forces have also applied pressure to parts of northeastern Kharkiv region, notably around the largely destroyed city of Kupiansk.

They have also tried to maintain a foothold in the northern border region of Sumy, although President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, quoting Syrskyi, has said Kyiv’s forces have been recapturing ground near the border.

US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that the Trump administration would not impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods to halt China’s purchases of Russian oil unless European countries hit China and India with steep duties of their own.

Bessent told Reuters and Bloomberg in a joint interview that European countries needed to play a stronger role in cutting off Russian oil revenues and bringing its war in Ukraine to an end.

“We expect the Europeans to do their share now, and we are not moving forward without the Europeans,” Bessent said, when asked whether the US would impose Russian oil-related tariffs on Chinese goods after Trump slapped an additional 25 per cent duties on Indian imports.

Volodymyr Zelensky also told Sky News that Vladimir Putin used the Alaska summit with Donald Trump because he “wanted to escape from political isolation”.

The Ukrainian president said he thinks the Russian leader “should have paid more” for the meeting with the US president.

Mr Zelensky told the broadcaster: “He should have received a setback in this war and stop.

“But instead, he received de-isolation. He got the photos with president Trump. He received public dialogue, and I think this opens the doors for Putin into some other summits and formats, because that’s how it is, and we see that, we observe this, and I don’t think he paid anything for it.”

Mr Zelensky argued that Mr Putin “should pay, firstly, because he started the war, and secondly, because (he is) trying to find a way out of isolation”.

He continued: “[It is very important not to give Mr Putin this space, because otherwise he won’t feel compelled that he has to stop the war.

“He’s waging the war and everyone is trying to stop him by arguing, by asking him – but instead force should be used. He understands force. That’s his language. That is the language he understands.

“He doesn’t speak many languages, but that’s the language of force he understands, just like Russian, his mother tongue – and we ask very much European and US countries to do that, to show that.

“Yes, they take some steps, such as sanctions, for example, but more needs to be done, quicker.”

Volodymyr Zelensky has told Sky News that Vladimir Putin is attempting to trick Donald Trump into delaying sanctions.

Speaking of the Russian and US leaders’ meeting in Alaska last month, the Ukrainian president said: “I think it gave a lot to Putin, and I believe, if it was a trilateral meeting, we would have some result.”

The broadcaster’s Yalda Hakim asked if Mr Putin was attempting to trick Mr Trump. Mr Zelensky said he was, and added: “He’s doing everything he can to avoid sanctions, to prevent US and Trump from putting sanctions on him, and if you keep postponing applying sanctions any further, then the Russians will be better prepared.”

Poland’s foreign minister has called for a no-fly zone to be imposed in the skies in Ukraine to deter Russia from attacking Europe.

Radoslaw Sikorski told the German news outlet Frankfurter Allgemeiner said: “We as Nato and the EU could be capable of doing this, but it is not a decision that Poland can make alone; it can only be made with its allies.

“Protection for our population — for example, from falling debris — would naturally be greater if we could combat drones and other flying objects beyond our national territory.”

“If Ukraine were to ask us to shoot them down over its territory, that would be advantageous for us. If you ask me personally, we should consider it,” he added.