Trump says Europe should shoot down Russian aircraft as he continues to sour on Putin’s war

Donald Trump insisted that NATO nations should feel emboldened to shoot down Russian planes if they enter their countries’ airspace.

It comes after Russian drones crossed into Polish airspace this week amid the ongoing war with Ukraine.

Speaking alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at United Nations headquarters on Tuesday, Trump suggested that the U.S. might back-up North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries forced to take action if Russia provokes them.

‘Do you think that NATO countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter their airspace?’ a reporter asked Trump.

‘Yes I do,’ he replied.

Another reporter asked Trump if he would ‘backup’ or ‘help out’ NATO allies who did shoot down Russian planes.

Trump said it ‘depends on the circumstance, but we’re very strong towards NATO.’

World leaders are gathered in New York City this week for the United Nations General Assembly. Trump delivered remarks to the entire body on Tuesday morning and is engaging in bilateral and multilateral meetings through the afternoon – including with Zelensky.

There have been three major instances this month where Russian craft entered the airspace of countries that were not Ukraine.

On September 19, three Russian MiG-31 jets entered Estonian airspace for 12 minutes over the Gulf of Finland. NATO intercepted but did not engage with the aircraft.

A few days later on September 21, a Russian IL-20M reconnaissance plane entered neutral Baltic Sea airspace. German and Swedish jets intercepted that plane.

And then on Monday, September 22, Russian warplanes entered Romanian and Polish airspace during exercises.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called it a ‘large-scale provocation’ and warned it was the closest Poland has come to open conflict since World War II. He invoked NATO Article 4 for consultations.

‘We will make a decision to shoot down flying objects without discussion when they violate our territory and fly over Poland. There is no room for debate here,’ Tusk said on Monday.

And Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Radosław Sikorski told the UN Security Council on Tuesday: ‘If another missile or aircraft enters our space without permission… and gets shot down… please don’t come here to whine about it. You have been warned.’

Russia has denied intent and claims the range limits of their drones could not reach Poland. Moscow blamed electronic warfare disruptions for their aircraft entering foreign airspace.