Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says in an interview with Sky News that the incursion of Russian drones into Poland is a test by Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to see what NATO is capable of.

After reports that British fighter jets carried out air defense missions over Poland in response to Russian drones, a journalist asked Zelenskyy what message Putin was sending to Europeans.

The Ukrainian head of state believes this is essentially a test of the Alliance's resolve.

"He is testing NATO. He wants to see what NATO is ready for, what they're capable of, both diplomatically and politically, and how the local population will respond to this," Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy also argued that by violating Poland’s airspace, Russia is sending another signal to the West about Ukraine.

"The other message they are sending is, 'don't you dare to give Ukraine additional air defense systems, because you might need them yourself," the President concluded.

Russian drone incursion into Poland

On the night of September 10, during a combined Russian attack on Ukraine, around 20 Russian drones violated Polish airspace.

To safeguard its territory, Poland scrambled its air force and, for the first time, shot down Russian drones — over its own territory.

In response to the incident, NATO invoked four of its articles. The Alliance also recently launched the Eastern Sentry operation, which involves deploying certain equipment from NATO allies to Poland to strengthen defenses.