Tusk accuses Russia of planning major terrorist activities on flights worldwide

(Patria) - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk yesterday accused Russia of planning a major terrorist campaign targeting planes and flights in Europe and worldwide.

Tusk told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Russia is planning activities that extend beyond Europe's borders.

"I can confirm that Russia is planning terrorist activities, not only against Poland, but also against air carriers around the world," Tusk said, without providing details about the nature of these threats.

The American newspaper The New York Times recently reported that US intelligence agencies had warned the White House about a Russian plan to smuggle explosives onto cargo planes flying to the US.

According to these reports, the White House sent a strong warning to the Kremlin, demanding an end to the operation.

Russia, according to sources, was preparing for sabotage operations against the US by placing explosive devices in cargo shipments and sending them by plane.

This is not the first time Russia has been accused of sabotaging transport infrastructure. Several European countries have previously accused Moscow of disrupting GPS signals and attempting to attack key transport systems as part of a hybrid war.

Czech Transport Minister Martin Kupka stated in April 2024 that Russia had carried out thousands of cyberattack attempts on European railway networks since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A recent incident in Kazakhstan, where an Azerbaijani passenger plane crashed, killing 38 people, has also been linked to Russian actions.

This case revived memories of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 tragedy, shot down in 2014 over eastern Ukraine in an area controlled by pro-Russian separatists, which killed 298 people.

The Kremlin has called all accusations unfounded, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stating they were politically motivated statements.

Although Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized without taking responsibility for the crash of the Azerbaijani plane, Russia has never taken responsibility for the MH17 disaster.

Zelensky and Tusk unanimously assessed that there is no better guarantee for Ukraine's security than NATO membership and expressed hope that the US will continue to be a guarantor of Ukraine's stability, regardless of who their president is.

"The sooner Ukraine becomes a member of the European Union and NATO, the sooner Europe will gain the significance it so desperately needs. Russia does not enter where understanding, cooperation, and respect prevail," Zelensky said in Warsaw.

Prime Minister Tusk, whose country holds the presidency of the European Union in the first half of this year, pledged to try to eliminate bureaucratic delays in negotiations with Ukraine during his presidency.

"I am convinced, and this is one of my tasks, that this represents assistance and defense for the entire EU against Russia's brutal aggression. An independent, sovereign Ukraine that decides its own destiny is not only obvious historical justice, but it is a condition for the security of Poland and the entire Europe, about which there is no debate," Tusk said.

Both Tusk and Zelensky expressed hope that the new US administration of President Donald Trump will not abandon Ukraine.

"The whole world is waiting for the new American president. The US is a guarantor of stability, it is the most powerful in the fight against Russian aggression. We are counting on active cooperation in the spirit of peace, thanks to strength, we are counting on sanctions against Russia for its invasion to remain," Zelensky stated.

He added at the end that one of the guarantees, if peace negotiations were to begin, could be a military contingent of Ukraine's strategic partners on its territory.