Putin Taunts Trump and NATO
The Russian seems to think he can do what he wants without fear of U.S. sanction.
President Trump thought he could negotiate peace in Ukraine with his friend Vladimir Putin, and perhaps it was worth a shot. Yet the Russian has offered nothing but brutal escalation for eight months, and now he is taunting Mr. Trump and NATO by flying drones into Poland. Your move, Mr. President.
An estimated 19 Russian drones violated Polish airspace on Tuesday night, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization allied assets from Patriots to F-16s scrambled to take down the projectiles. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte called the drone foray “absolutely reckless” and “not an isolated incident.” That many incursions can’t be explained by incompetence or bad directions.
Mr. Putin thinks he can get away with this provocation as he pummels Ukraine with hundreds of missiles and drones, and it’s a reasonable bet based on Mr. Trump’s record. Mr. Trump said recently that he is “not happy about the whole situation” in Ukraine. But Mr. Trump hasn’t backed up his repeated warnings and deadlines, and Mr. Putin may figure he can always count on another two weeks.
What’s happened in the three weeks since Mr. Putin’s visit to Alaska? Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Thom Tillis ticked off a damning list Wednesday: Mr. Putin “met with fellow autocrats in Beijing to conspire against America,” and soon “deliberately struck EU diplomatic facilities and other Western assets in Kyiv.”
Mr. Putin then fired 800 drones and missiles and killed more civilians, “including a mother and her infant.” Meanwhile, the Trump Administration appears to be cutting back U.S. security funding for NATO’s Baltic states that understand the threat from Mr. Putin and prove it with their high defense spending.
The Administration at least appears to be pressuring Europe to impose more penalties on countries that buy Russian oil. But the U.S. has so far spared China from sanctions for buying Mr. Putin’s oil. Ditto for failing to seize $300 billion in frozen Russian reserves that could help Ukraine buy more weapons to defend itself.
Mr. Trump is still allowing a bipartisan Senate bill for such “secondary” sanctions to collect dust, despite its more than 80 Senate co-sponsors. This soft touch may in part be a quixotic attempt at a grand bargain with Beijing, but the President can forget about that if he lets Mr. Putin con him on Ukraine.
The drone incursion is a reminder that placating Mr. Putin carries risks far beyond U.S. embarrassment. Mr. Putin is showing that his imperial project isn’t limited to Ukraine. He repeats propaganda about Nazi affiliation and “root causes” that obliged him to attack Ukraine, and the Institute for the Study of War recently detailed how Russian officials tell a similar tale about Finland.
A direct confrontation between NATO and Russia would be a disaster for the world that nobody wants, but a limp U.S. response increases the odds of war. It’s a direct security risk to the U.S. that Mr. Putin thinks he can send drones into Poland, a U.S. treaty ally that hosts roughly 10,000 American troops.
Mr. Trump on Wednesday mused on social media “What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!,” and a President sounding like a sidewalk gawker isn’t encouraging. But Mr. Trump is nothing if not ideologically flexible and his revulsion at the human toll of the Ukraine war is clearly sincere.
The President knows the pressure he can apply on Mr. Putin: More sanctions, more weapons for Ukraine and fewer restrictions on their use, and a reinforcement of NATO’s military power so it isn’t caught off guard by Russia’s probing. The drone parts now scattered all over Poland bear an old message, and it’s that weakness invites aggression.
Appeared in the September 11, 2025, print edition as 'Putin Taunts Trump and NATO'.
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