Press secretary Jen Psaki suggested Tuesday that the White House doesn’t view Russian drones reportedly entering NATO airspace as an invasion at this time but wouldn’t directly answer questions about whether these incidents require a U.S. response.
Ukrainian military forces told Western media outlets on Monday that the aircraft in question, believed to be a Russian Forpost drone, was surveying damage caused by Russian airstrikes on the Yavoriv military base near the Polish border.
The drone briefly entered Polish airspace before flying back into Ukraine, where it was shot down by the country’s military.
“It’s not that NATO countries just respond on their own,” Psaki said in response to a question on the subject during Tuesday’s White House press briefing. “If there is an attack, that is considered by NATO leadership of the NATO countries to meet that bar. Then, there’s a discussion among NATO partners about how to respond, but it’s not in anyone’s interest to get into an escalatory war with Russia.”
Psaki was pressed on a second reported Russian drone that flew over three NATO countries before crashing in Croatia. The Croatian government claimed that the drone carried an explosive device, and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said, “This was a pure and clear threat, and both NATO and the EU should have reacted.”
Psaki responded to those questions by again outlining the “conversation that happens between NATO allies and partners” but declined to give “any details” on the incident from the podium.
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You can watch Tuesday’s briefing in full below.
