It was only a couple of days ago that the democratic West was buoyed by Ukraine’s deep strikes into Russia. From The Washington Post:
Ukraine’s drones disrupt Russia with airport closures, internet blackouts
As Ukrainian drones strike deep into Russian territory, they are disrupting day-to-day life and reminding Russians that the war is not confined to the trenches.
by Mary Ilyushina | Memorial Day, May 26, 2025
Large-scale Ukrainian drone attacks have rattled multiple Russian regions for the third consecutive day, grounding flights, disrupting internet access and stretching the country’s air defense systems thin.
Russian officials claimed more than 700 drones were intercepted within the past 72 hours, nearly 100 of them near the capital. The attacks, while far less destructive than Russia’s missile barrages on Ukrainian cities, still demonstrate Ukraine’s evolving use of this low-cost, high-impact technology.
The Ukrainian drones are striking deep into Russian territory, and although the damage is limited, they are disrupting day-to-day life in a jarring reminder to Russians far from the front lines that the war is not confined to the trenches.
Ukraine’s drone attacks on Russia, though disruptive to Russian civilians, still pale in comparison Russia’s constant attacks on Ukrainian civilian areas, both in terms of the type of weaponry, the level of destruction and the number of civilian casualties. From late Friday to early Saturday, Russia attacked Ukraine with 250 drones and 14 ballistic missiles, including some made in North Korean, injuring eight and sparking six fires in different districts of Kyiv, according to Ukrainian authorities.
But there’s a real problem outside of Russia and Ukraine:
NATO Scrambles Fighter Jets After Long-Range Russian Missile Strikes
Memorial Day, May 26, 2025 | 5:24 AM EDT
NATO fighter jets were scrambled near Poland’s eastern border on Monday as Ukraine was struck by a Russian missile and drone attack.
Poland’s Armed Forces said that Polish and allied aircraft had taken off amid “renewed activity of the Russian Federation’s long-range aviation carrying out missile strikes on facilities located in the territory of Ukraine.” . . . .
Throughout Russia’s war in Ukraine, Poland has regularly accused Moscow of carrying out provocative acts along NATO’s eastern flank. Warsaw’s military has also claimed Russian cruise missiles have entered its airspace.
“All necessary procedures to ensure the safety of Polish airspace have been activated,” the Polish military said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces is monitoring the current situation, with subordinate forces and resources remaining in full readiness for an immediate response.”
The jets were scrambled after Moscow launched a large-scale missile and drone attack on Ukraine for the second night in a row.
Russia’s military forces launched 355 attack drones and nine cruise missiles, the Ukrainian air force said Monday.
There’s more at the original.
Ukraine is not a member of NATO, so Russian attacks there do not require the “attack on one is an attack on all” provision of the North Atlantic Treaty. But what happens if one of those Russian missiles or drones misses Ukraine, and strikes inside Poland, which is part of NATO? The Poles are already keeping their military on alert and scrambling jet fighters when they detect the ordinance coming their way, “with subordinate forces and resources remaining in full readiness for an immediate response.”
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m not willing to go to war with Russia, with nuclear-armed Russia, just because an off-target missile blasts a crater in a nice, green pasture in Poland. Fortunately, we have a President who’s actually able to take that 3:00 AM phone call, and who is very uninterested in war. But, on the unfortunate side, we have some posturing tough guys leading the United Kingdom and France, and stupidity can always happen. World War I started due to just such posturing tough guys, tough guys who had no flaming idea what they were doing and what Hell they would unleash, when it didn’t need to happen in the first place.
I would like to think that a cratered pasture, or even a blast in a Polish border town, would not lead to war with Russia, but I’ve only small confidence that things would turn out that way.
Memorial Day is a time when we are supposed to be reflecting upon the sacrifices made by the 1.2 million American soldiers killed in all of our wars. We do not need to be adding to that number.
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Also posted on American Free News Network. Check out American Free News Network for more well written and well reasoned conservative commentary.