Putin's latest warmongering highlights Trump's limp diplomacy

The Polish government on Wednesday shot down multiple Russian drones operating in its sovereign airspace, marking an escalation in warmongering by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and highlighting President Donald Trump’s ongoing failure to contain Russian aggression.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that his nation's military had recorded 19 Russian incursions overnight and shot down four of the drones, many of which Tusk says were launched from Belarus, a Russian ally led by an authoritarian government. Tusk called the action a “large-scale provocation” and that “a line has been crossed.”

“This situation brings us the closest we have been to open conflict since World War II,” Tusk told the Polish Parliament.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose country has been the target of constant Russian attacks, wrote, “It is clear that Russian aggression poses a danger to every independent nation in our region, and therefore only joint and coordinated action can guarantee reliable security.”

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The attack comes just a few weeks after Trump’s highly touted summit with Putin in Alaska failed to end the war between Russia and Ukraine and was a diplomatic disaster for the Trump administration.

That meeting in August saw Trump clapping giddily as he greeted the Russian autocrat, followed by talks that did not produce a ceasefire. During his 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly promised that he would quickly end the war, which he falsely blamed on former President Joe Biden and Ukraine, rather than Russia—the primary aggressor.

A few days later, after European leaders visited the White House to discuss the conflict, Trump was caught on a hot mic touting his connection to Putin.

"I think [Putin] wants to make a deal,” Trump said. “I think he wants to make a deal for me. Do you understand that, as crazy as it sounds?"

Putin has repeatedly rejected efforts to end the war, making Trump’s credulous comments appear removed from reality, particularly for the thousands of Ukrainians who have died since the beginning of the war.

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Following their summit, Trump continued to fanboy over Putin, gushing to Fox News that he “maintained a very good relationship” with the Russian and that when they met in Alaska there was a “warmth there” and a “decent feeling.”

Trump even held up a photo of Putin while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office a few days later and said he hoped Putin would visit the 2026 World Cup held in the U.S.

Trump has falsely bragged about ending multiple wars while touting himself for a Nobel Peace Prize (an award that was given to former President Barack Obama, much to Trump’s chagrin), but he hasn’t been able to get Russia to budge.

That’s because for the entirety of his time as a political figure, Trump has acted as Putin’s loyal poodle, bringing to life former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 warning that Trump would be Putin’s puppet.

Putin pushed hard for Trump in that election, interfering from afar, because with Trump in the White House, he can do things like fly drones into Poland without worrying about serious consequences from America.

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