OTTAWA — Canada’s defence minister won’t say whether Canada played a role in taking down Russian drones that violated Polish airspace overnight Wednesday but Prime Minister Mark Carney called for the world to intensify the pressure on Moscow to end its war on Ukraine.
Poland said multiple Russian drones entered its territory late Tuesday and early Wednesday, some of which were shot down with the help of NATO fighter jets.
Defence Minister David McGuinty told reporters in Edmonton on Wednesday he couldn’t “get into” whether Canada was among the countries that helped destroy the drones.
“There will be more information forthcoming. I’m just not in a position to answer that now,” he said. “There are a number of countries that were involved in this response.”
A NATO spokesman said it was the first time the alliance had confronted a potential threat in its airspace since the alliance was formed in 1949.
The spokesman said the Netherlands and Poland responded to the incursion, while German and Italian forces were put on alert and a multi-nation aerial refuelling fleet was launched.
U.S. ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker wrote in a social media post that Washington “will defend every inch of NATO territory.”
McGuinty said Ottawa expected to see Russia use drones in increasingly brazen ways, based on discussions with partners, including a meeting this week with the Ukraine Defence Contact Group.
“We’re not going to take our foot off the accelerator when it comes to providing the support, the training, the leadership and the weapons that Ukraine needs to prosecute this war,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Liberal national caucus meeting.
“Canada continues to co-operate and to provide any assistance it can.”
He said the incident was only partly surprising, given Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “unwillingness to have adult conversations about ceasefires.”
In a social media post, Carney wrote that “we must increase the pressure” on Putin to end his war on Ukraine and agree to a lasting peace. Carney’s office said he was referring to actions the entire world must take.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said she is in touch with her Polish counterparts, who were set Wednesday to trigger a formal consultation with the NATO military alliance to discuss the incursion.
She said Canada stands with both Poland and Ukraine “in the short- and the long-term” and will act in accordance with the sovereign decisions Poland makes in response.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Canada needs a strong military to stand up to Russian aggression.
“We stand ready to work with all countries to protect Canadian sovereignty and that of our NATO allies — and to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” he wrote on the platform X.
The Polish military described the incursion as an “act of aggression” carried out during a wave of Russian drone strikes on Ukraine. European leaders have called the Russian incursion an intentional escalation of the war.
Moscow claims it did not target Poland, while its close ally Belarus said some drones “lost their course” because of network jamming.
McGuinty said NATO allies are gathering and sharing information on the drone incursion and will eventually have much more to say.
“I don’t think we can take a lot of what comes from Russia right now at face value,” he added.
He said Ottawa could help its NATO partners and Ukraine by sharing intelligence, or through its current deployment to Latvia.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he spoke Wednesday with leaders from France, the U.K., Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Ukraine, while Polish President Karol Nawrocki spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Polish airspace has been violated many times since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but never on this scale in Poland or anywhere else in NATO territory.
Poland said some of the drones came from Belarus, where Russian and Belarusian troops have been gathering for war games scheduled to start Friday.
— With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2025.
Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
