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What a No-Fly Zone Over Ukraine Would Mean for the West

Poland suggested such a zone after a major Russian incursion. But political hesitance and military shortcomings pose clear obstacles.

© Gleb Garanich/Reuters

Explosions in the sky over Kyiv, Ukraine, as Ukrainian soldiers fired toward Russian drones last week.
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Russia Made Drone Production a Supreme Priority. Now It Swarms the Skies.

Ukraine is struggling to defend itself against the growing number of attack drones that Moscow has started using in its onslaughts.

© David Guttenfelder/The New York Times

Ukrainian firefighters battling a blaze in central Kharkiv after several Russian drones struck the area in July.
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Romania Says Russian Drone Entered Its Airspace

It was the second time in less than a week that a Russian drone had flown through a NATO member’s airspace. Last week, NATO scrambled fighter jets to shoot down Russian drones in Polish airspace.

© Vadim Ghirda/Associated Press

A Romanian Air Force F-16 last month during an air show in Romania.
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Trump Says He Will Impose More Sanctions on Russia if NATO Does

It was the latest in a series of new conditions that President Trump had announced on punitive action against Russia for its war against Ukraine.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times

President Trump leaving New York for Bedminster, N.J., on Friday night aboard Marine One.
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As Sabotage in Europe Mounts, So Do Calls to Retaliate Against Russia

Drones in Poland and GPS jamming attributed to Russia have intensified a debate over whether the West should impose stiffer penalties for such “hybrid warfare.”

© Wojtek Radwanski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A house that was badly damaged by debris from a Russian drone that was shot down in the village of Wyryki-Wola, in eastern Poland, on Wednesday.
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NATO Steps Up Defenses After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace

Increased air patrols, air defense systems and other protections will be mobilized over Eastern Europe.

© Wojtek Radwanski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Officials inspecting a house that was damaged when a Russian drone was shot down in the village of Wyryki-Wola, in eastern Poland, on Wednesday.
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On Ukraine and Gaza, Trump Casts Himself as a Bystander, if He Can’t Be a Peacemaker

President Trump often insists he can bring peace to global conflicts. But when allies and adversaries alike appear to be ignoring him or testing American will, he adopts a what-can-you-do shrug.

© Elizabeth Frantz for The New York Times

When dozens of Russian drones flew deep into Poland on Tuesday, President Trump left it to Polish leaders and NATO to issue a warning to the Russians.
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On Ukraine and Gaza, Trump Casts Himself as a Bystander, if He Can’t Be a Peacemaker

President Trump often insists he can bring peace to global conflicts. But when allies and adversaries alike appear to be ignoring him or testing American will, he adopts a what-can-you-do shrug.

© Elizabeth Frantz for The New York Times

When dozens of Russian drones flew deep into Poland on Tuesday, President Trump left it to Polish leaders and NATO to issue a warning to the Russians.
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Drone Barrage Over Poland Was a Test for NATO, and the U.S.

A continent already on edge over the Ukraine war sees a Russian challenge to NATO readiness and to an America that wants to disengage from Europe.

© Kacper Pempel/Reuters

A member of the Polish Army inspecting a damaged house, after Russian drones violated Polish airspace during an attack on Ukraine and some were shot down by NATO fighter jets, in Wyryki, Lublin Voivodeship, Poland, on Wednesday.
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Russia’s Strategy Against the West: Escalate Slowly and See if It Responds

Ukrainian and European officials say President Vladimir V. Putin has become emboldened by a lack of Western pushback.

© Wojtek Radwanski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The police inspected the damage to a house caused by debris from a shot-down Russian drone in the village of Wyryki-Wola, eastern Poland on Wednesday.
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Poland Has Invoked NATO’s Article 4. What Comes Next?

Article 4 allows member states to start a formal discussion within the alliance about threats to their security. It does not commit the alliance to military action.

© Kacper Pempel/Reuters

Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland held an emergency meeting in Warsaw on Wednesday.
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Drones Over Poland Are Latest Violation of Countries Near Ukraine

Poland denounced what it has described as an incursion by more than a dozen Russian drones. It would not be the first time Russia’s war effort had spilled beyond Ukraine.

© Jakub Orzechowski/Agencja Wyborcza.Pl, via Reuters

This house in Wyryki, Poland, was struck overnight Wednesday by what was suspected to be a Russian drone.
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Putin’s Message to Ukraine, Europe and Trump: I Won’t Back Down

With escalating airstrikes, the Russian leader appears determined to demonstrate that he will dictate the terms for any end to the war.

© Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times

Kyiv, Ukraine, on Sunday, as Russia launched its largest missile and drone barrage of the war.
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NATO Says It Scrambled Fighter Jets to Shoot Down Russian Drones Over Poland

The incursion was the first time alliance planes had engaged enemy targets in NATO airspace. Poland’s leader called it “a large-scale provocation.”

© Kacper Pempel/Reuters

Polish military and government officials at a meeting in Warsaw on Wednesday after the drone incursions.
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Norway’s Navy Gets a Big Boost With U.K. Ship Deal

A plan to buy warships shows how Europe is bolstering defenses amid worries about Russian aggression and President Trump’s isolationist policies, analysts say.

© Pool photo by Andy Buchanan

A frigate under construction in Glasgow, Scotland, on Thursday. Norway has signed a $13.5 billion deal to buy at least five such warships from British shipbuilders.
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Trump Administration to End Security Programs Protecting European Allies From Russia

Ending the longstanding program is expected to impact hundreds of millions of dollars that have gone toward countries that border Russia.

© Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

President Trump during a NATO summit in The Hague in June.
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Russia Wants ‘Security Guarantees’ Too. Here’s What They Look Like.

The Kremlin’s vision of national security comes at the expense of Ukrainian sovereignty, underlining the challenges of striking a peace deal.

© Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

A soldier with Ukraine’s 42nd Separate Mechanized Brigade in the Kharkiv region, in May. Russia wants limits on the size and capabilities of the Ukrainian military.
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Europe Aims to Show It Is Ready to Secure Postwar Ukraine

President Emmanuel Macron of France hosted a meeting of leaders to review options for protecting any peace with Russia.

© Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters

President Emmanuel Macron of France, right, with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, at the Élysée Palace in Paris on Thursday.
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Ukraine Pursues a Weapons Buildup More Potent Than Any Security Guarantee

Kyiv sees a well-equipped army as a stronger deterrent to Moscow than any Western pledges to defend it. It is working to attract billions to buy more arms.

© Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Ukrainian soldiers in the Donetsk region of Ukraine in May. Kyiv is counting on its booming domestic defense industry, which has already delivered drones that swarm the battlefield.
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Large Russian Air Attack Hits Ukraine, Amid Stalled Bid for Peace Talks

It was the second massive assault in three days, as the Kremlin rebuffed peace talks sought by Ukraine and the United States.

© Marina Moiseyenko/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The site of a Russian strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Saturday.
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Weapons to Start Flowing Into Ukraine Under European Deal With Trump

A package of U.S. cruise missiles is among the first shipments of purchases by NATO allies to be sent to the embattled country.

© Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times

Russia has continued to pound Kyiv and other areas of Ukraine with airstrikes, including a barrage on Thursday that killed at least 23 people in the capital.
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