Poland at its closest to open conflict since World War Two, PM says
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 10 September 2025
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Nineteen Russian drones entered Poland’s airspace overnight, and some of them were shot down by Polish and Nato aircraft, Polish PM Donald Tusk has said. It marks the first time Russian drones have been downed over the territory of a Nato country. We'll speak to Ukraine's defence minister and a former U.S. ambassador to Nato.
Also on the programme: The UN’s children agency, UNICEF, has released a report today that says there are now more obese or overweight children globally than underweight ones; and a long-awaited inquiry into a programme carried out by Danish doctors to fit contraceptive coils for Inuit women and girls in Greenland has found the vast majority did not give their consent.
(Photo: Prime Minister Donald Tusk speaks during an extraordinary government meeting at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister in Warsaw, Poland, 10 September 2025. Credit: Szymon Pulcyn/EPA/Shutterstock)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. We are coming to you live from |
| 0:08.2 | London. I'm Krupa Bhadi and it's very good to have you with us. Coming up later in the |
| 0:12.8 | program, we'll be getting the latest on the news of the shooting of the right-wing activist and Trump |
| 0:18.3 | ally Charlie Kirk. Plus, Ukraine's defense minister gives us his reaction |
| 0:23.2 | to the violation of Polish airspace by Russian drones. And that is indeed where we start, because |
| 0:30.4 | it is being called a test of NATO's resolve. On Wednesday, Poland became the first member of the |
| 0:37.0 | Western Military Alliance to fire |
| 0:38.7 | shots during Russia's war in Ukraine, backed by Dutch and Italian fighter jets. At least three of the 14 |
| 0:46.1 | drones found so far were shot down. And in the hours since, Poland has invoked Article 4 of the |
| 0:51.7 | NATO Treaty, which calls for urgent talks with allies for their security. |
| 0:56.2 | The Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is furious. He addressed Parliament earlier in the day, |
| 1:01.1 | saying that he and the President, who is from a different political party, |
| 1:04.8 | are working together in the interest of the country. He said it was a dangerous moment for Poland. |
| 1:10.4 | I want to make sure, no, make sure, the country. He said it was a dangerous moment for Poland. |
| 1:20.8 | I want to emphasize very strongly that there is no reason to claim we're on the brink of war, |
| 1:26.5 | but there is no doubt that this provocation exceeds the existing boundaries and is incomparably more dangerous from Poland's |
| 1:28.4 | point of view than all others. This situation brings us the closest we have been to open conflict |
| 1:33.7 | since World War II. And we've had this reaction from the Polish MP, Agniewiczka, an MP for the |
| 1:42.1 | governing civic coalition. She said that she was confident of NATO support for her country, despite pressure from Moscow. |
| 1:49.2 | Of course it's a test, and Russia is testing NATO alliance as well. |
| 1:53.9 | So it's a test, but so far we have no doubts that it's our main defence and security alliance. |
| 2:01.9 | Let's also take a listen to the German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius speaking in Berlin, |
... |
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