Why Putin sent drones into Poland

From Unian, Sept. 13:

"Not a test of NATO's response: The Telegraph reveals the true purpose of Russia's drone provocation

The Russian drone incursion into Poland was unlikely to be an attempt to test NATO's readiness to counter such threats, much less a test of the West's political response to such actions. In fact, it was part of Russia's efforts to militarily suppress Ukraine, writes retired British Army Colonel and military analyst Richard Camp in the Telegraph.  

He notes that Putin doesn't need to test NATO's response because it's already known: there will be nothing. After all, 19 drones—most, if not all, of which were not carrying explosives—are too minor an incident to respond to with anything other than verbal outrage.

Camp reminds us that Putin didn't plan a four-year war of attrition. Ukraine's continued fierce resistance to aggression is largely due to massive military aid from its Western partners. The Kremlin has long been trying to disrupt these supplies, combining public threats of nuclear weapons with numerous acts of sabotage within Europe itself.

"This was also the real purpose of the drone incursion: to sow fear among NATO countries to the point that they would seek to concentrate their enhanced air defenses on protecting Poland and, as a result, deprive Ukraine of the resources it desperately needs. This is precisely what we have been hearing from our political leaders since Tuesday evening," Camp writes.

The analyst cautions Western leaders against the instinctive urge to stockpile air defense systems in case of a future war. In his opinion, the appropriate NATO response to the Russian drone incident in Poland would be to provide Ukraine with more air defense systems.

"War against the West may happen in the future, but Putin won't start it anytime soon. He has too much on his plate in Ukraine, and the last thing he wants is to widen the conflict. The best way to deter something like that is to deny him the victory he so desperately needs in Ukraine now," the analyst notes."