Sikorski Urges Aggressive NATO Drills Near Kaliningrad

NATO should conduct aggressive military exercises along the borders of Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave to exploit Moscow’s local troop drawdown and compel the Kremlin to divert forces away from Ukraine, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said on Friday, Sept. 11. Speaking at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Yalta European Strategy (YES 2026) in Kyiv, organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, Sikorski stated that Poland monitors the Russian exclave closely and observed that Moscow has left the heavily militarized territory virtually depleted of conventional ground forces to replenish combat losses in Ukraine.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. “Putin knows, or assumes, that NATO is a peaceful alliance and we will not take advantage of his local weakness. And, perhaps, that is a mistake,” Sikorski told conference participants, as reported by European Pravda. Clarifying that he was not advocating for allied forces to seize the Baltic enclave, Sikorski emphasized that NATO should use high-intensity maneuvers to inject strategic unpredictability into Moscow’s defense planning. “I propose that we hold drills on our side so aggressive that he is not sure what exactly we will do,” Sikorski explained. “And so that because of this, he would be forced to redeploy part of his forces from Ukraine.” Heightened border alert Sikorski’s remarks follow warnings from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk that Moscow may orchestrate provocations and strikes targeting border infrastructure between Ukraine and neighboring allied nations. Other Topics of Interest Territory Remains Main Obstacle to Ukraine-Russia Deal, Kushner Says Jared Kushner said territory is the primary obstacle to a peace deal, as mediators seek a creative formula between Kyiv and Moscow. Speaking in Bratislava on Sept. 10, Tusk announced that Polish security services had cooperated with Ukrainian counterparts overnight to avert a direct threat to a border checkpoint. Tusk noted that Russian forces had already targeted border transit hubs, pointing to a deadly drone strike on the Tudora-Starokozache border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova on Sept. 8-9 that killed two Ukrainian nationals and injured seven others. Tusk stated that he had reviewed intelligence dispatches received directly from the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) detailing anticipated Russian escalations in the coming months, urging European allies to reinforce collective defenses across NATO’s eastern flank. Concurrently, Poland’s Minister Coordinator of Special Services Tomasz Siemoniak met with CIA Director John Ratcliffe in Washington to assess the threat of Russian hybrid warfare and conventional aggression against alliance members. Ratcliffe’s prior diplomatic discussions in Moscow reportedly included direct warnings cautioning the Kremlin against testing allied commitments in the Baltic region. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.