Polish officials say crashed drone is Russian 'provocation' – DW – 08/20/2025
Debris of what appears to be a Russian drone crashed into a field in Poland on Wednesday, Polish authorities said.
"Once again, we are dealing with a provocation by the Russian Federation, with a Russian drone," Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said.
"We are dealing in a crucial moment, when discussions about peace (in Ukraine) are underway."
Local police found burned metal and plastic in a corn field outside the village of Osiny, in the east of the country. No casualties were reported.
Polish media published photos of what appeared to be remains of the drone, including a charred engine and a propeller. The explosion left a crater 6 meters (20 feet) wide.
The Polish Foreign Ministry said initial findings indicated the drone was a Russian-made version of the Shahed drone — an Iranian design that is commonly used to attack Ukraine.
Polish general Dariusz Malinowski said the aircraft "was a decoy drone, which was not armed but carried a self-destruct warhead."
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Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski condemned "a new violation of our airspace from the east."
"The Foreign Ministry will protest to the perpetrator of this violation," he wrote on social media.
There have been a number of incursions into Polish airspace since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, raising alarm in the EU and NATO member state.
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DW
8 minutes ago
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Where could Putin and Zelenskyy meet? – DW – 08/20/2025
Germany points to Switzerland and Austria says it's ready to host despite legal questions around ICC warrants for Russia's leader. Hungary, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are other options. European leaders seem relieved their intense efforts to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a seat at the table where decisions about his country's future were being made have paid off. But the most difficult diplomacy now lies ahead. Among the more practical issues: Where could talks between Zelenskyy and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin actually take place? German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told DW on Wednesday there are "many good venues in Europe" for negotiations. He said Berlin has no ambitions to host though and pointed to Switzerland as somewhere that has "always been good in the past." But finding literal common ground between the US, Russia, Ukraine and possibly European states won't be easy. It's also legally complex. 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Although Switzerland is a member of the ICC, its government says Putin would be granted "immunity' for talks. But Matthias Holvoet, a lecturer in international criminal law at the University of Amsterdam, told DW that's legally tenuous. In liberal democracies, independent judiciaries — not governments — should make decisions about such arrests, he said. "In reality, I would guess that there will be some kind of agreement between the executive and the judiciary to not execute these arrest warrants," Holvoet explained, noting that there are few consequences for ignoring ICC rules. Switzerland has a long history of neutrality, houses the United Nations, and has steered clear of both the European Union and the military alliance NATO. The Alpine country has however sanctioned Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. The Swiss government says it has been involved in 30 peace processes, including talks on Armenia, Cyprus, Mozambique and Sudan. In 2021, Geneva hosted talks between Putin and former US president Joe Biden. Austria's chancellor has also offered his country's capital Vienna as a possible venue. Austria is an EU member but has been militarily neutral since the 1950s and remains outside of NATO. "Austria fancies itself as a bridge builder between east and west," Reinhard Heinisch, a professor of political science at the University of Salzburg, told DW, highlighting Vienna's long record of diplomatic deal making, from high stakes US-Russia talks during the Cold War to negotiations on Iran's nucler program this decade. As an ICC member, Vienna faces the same legal dilemma as Switzerland. But, Heinisch says, "Austria is famous for compromises," adding that "much is left to interpretation' in the country's legal code. Law professor Holvoet says it's possible to delay a warrant with an agreement in the United Nations Security Council, but he thinks that's a political non-starter. 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To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Outside of Europe, Saudi Arabia and Qatar both have track records as international negotiators and neither are members of the ICC. Officials from Ukraine, the US and Russia separately held talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah earlier this year, after which Washington agreed to share intelligence with Kyiv again. Saudi Arabia's neighbor Qatar has also mediated talks which led to Russia and Ukraine agreeing to return several children. In the past, the EU has pushed Gulf states to be more critical of Moscow, crack down on sanctions evasion, and offer more support to Ukraine.
Int'l Business Times
an hour ago
- Int'l Business Times
How Europe Tried To Speak Trump
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DW
2 hours ago
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Which European countries might send troops to Ukraine? – DW – 08/20/2025
US President Donald Trump is urging EU allies to send ground troops to Ukraine to secure a ceasefire and guarantee security there. Not every European state is prepared to do so though. Following talks about Ukraine in Washington early this week, Western states are working to fine tune the details of the much-discussed "security guarantees" for Ukraine. One important question is how a possible ceasefire could be secured along the more than 1,000-kilometer-long (621 miles) front line in eastern Ukraine. Another is which countries would be prepared to send soldiers to Ukraine? And how many, and with what sort of mandate? US President Donald Trump has spoken positively about supporting security guarantees for Ukraine but has left open exactly what they should look like. He has categorically ruled out the deployment of US troops on the ground in Ukraine. He seems to assume that Germany, France and the UK are prepared to send troops to Ukraine to secure peace, as he told US broadcaster Fox News after the talks in Washington. He suggested that the US would be prepared to provide air support. The German government does not seem to be as far advanced in its decision-making as Trump might like. "Germany's contribution tosecurity guarantees hasnot yet beendetermined and this issue will be decided at the political and military levels," German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Tuesday. He added that there were still too many uncertainties, for example, regarding further negotiations as well as the contribution of the US and other allies. "This will have to be discussed carefully. And these talks are currently taking place," German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told DW. "So far Germany and its willingness to take responsibility in this conflict" cannot be described as lacking, he noted. What remains unclear is what mandate any international peacekeeping force might have. Germany's opposition Left Party (Die Linke) has expressed preference for a UN blue helmet deployment instead of a NATO-led mission so as to avoid any direct confrontation between NATO and Russia. Some members of Germany's Social Democrats, who are part of the country's ruling coalition, are also critical about NATO troops being deployed in Ukraine. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has shown himself to be open to sending a peacekeeping force to Ukraine in principle, but only in the event of a permanent ceasefire. Should this occur, London would be prepared to take a leading role in enforcing security guarantees for Ukraine, Starmer has said. This could also include the deployment of troops to monitor the ceasefire, for example. In February, British newspaper reported on a plan by London that would send 30,000 European troops to police a ceasefire. These would be deployed to guard Ukraine's cities and ports, as well as critical infrastructure such as nuclear power plants, far from the front line. The mission would also rely heavily on technical surveillance. The use of drones, satellites, reconnaissance aircraft and naval patrols in the Black Sea were all possibilities. In a virtual meeting with other leaders on Tuesday, Starmer said that, "Coalition of the Willing planning teams would meet with their US counterparts in the coming days to further strengthen plans to deliver robust security guarantees and prepare for the deployment of a reassurance force if the hostilities ended." French President Emmanuel Macron recently warned against rushing into a deal without safeguards. "This peace must not be rushed and must be backed by solid guarantees, otherwise we will be starting over again," he told French broadcaster TF1. In the past, Macron has not ruled out sending French troops to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force. In March, he presented a plan to send a "reassurance force" suggesting this might involve "a few thousand troops" per country, which would be stationed in "certain strategic locations" such as Kyiv, Odessa and Lviv. The mission would be defensive in nature, not for direct combat operations, and would act as a deterrent and for stabilization and training. France has already carried out exercises in which conditions in Ukraine were simulated. During the maneuvers, soldiers received training on how to behave in the event of a Russian attack via Belarus. Drone defense, electronic warfare and tactical coordination were also part of the training. Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and the Baltic states have also signaled their willingness to participate in a possible peacekeeping force in Ukraine. However other European states are more cautious. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk rejects the deployment of Polish soldiers, which he says, would be extremely unpopular with the Polish population. Polls say that 85% of Poles reject the deployment of their own soldiers, even for a peacekeeping mission. Hungary and Slovakia are also opposed to the deployment of European troops. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has even described the possible deployment of Western troops as "warmongering." Austria and Italy are also cautious. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is particularly skeptical about the deployment of NATO troops and would prefer a UN-led mission. Meloni has so far avoided making any clear commitments. In any case, nothing will happen without a prior agreement with Russia. But Moscow has so far categorically rejected the deployment of NATO troops to Ukraine and there is little indication that would change, even if there are signs that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy could soon meet in person. German Foreign Minister Wadephul remains skeptical. "I would advise that we first wait and see whether there are any talks at all," he told DW. "And secondly, if there are talks, whether there is an agreement that is resilient. And there, we are all waiting for Russia."To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
