European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday that shooting down Russian fighter planes entering NATO airspace is “on the table.”
“My opinion is we have to defend every square centimeter [of] territory, and that means if there’s an intrusion in the airspace, after warning, after being very clear, of course, the option of shooting down a fighter jet that is intruding our airspace is on the table,” von der Leyen said during an appearance on CNN.
President Trump said on Tuesday during his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the United Nations General Assembly that NATO countries should shoot down Russian jets that enter their airspace.
“Yes,” the president said when asked by reporters.
Polish Foreign Affairs Minister Radosław Sikorski said “roger that” in response to Trump’s comments.
The remarks from von der Leyen and Trump come as NATO countries have experienced Russian drones and planes flying in their airspace in recent weeks.
Poland’s military, with the help of NATO allies, shot down multiple Russian drones that violated the country’s airspace.
Russian fighter planes flew into Estonian airspace, prompting the country to invoke Article 4.
“The United States stands by our NATO allies in the face of these airspace violations. And I want to take this first opportunity to repeat, and to emphasize, the United States and our allies will defend every inch of NATO territory,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz said on Tuesday.
Von der Leyen, the head of the European Union’s executive arm, told CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour that Russia is “testing” Europe on “all fields.”
“I mean, that’s a hybrid war that we experienced since many, many years that Russia is leading against the democracies of the European Union and others. And therefore we fight back on all the different fields. And as I said, it’s a decision of NATO, but I would be very clear, you don’t touch our territory,” the EU chief said on Wednesday.
