PM predicts further provocations by Russia

Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin will continue to provoke Nato to test its unity, Poland's prime minister has said.

Mateusz Morawiecki's remarks came after Dutch fighter jets intercepted three Russian military aircraft in international airspace near Poland on Monday. The Dutch planes were patrolling the skies as part of Nato's Air Policing mission in Central and Eastern Europe.

Asked about the incident, Morawiecki said that "Putin and the Kremlin will continue to make more and more provocations.

"They will be vigilant, they will verify the cohesion and unity of the North Atlantic Alliance," the prime minister added.

He said the situation called for calm and for rapid reactions, but only ones agreed with Poland's allies.

"All the procedures worked here once again," Morawiecki continued, recalling the events November 15 last year, when a stray Ukrainian missile landed near a village in eastern Poland killing two people.

"Then too we took the right decisions together with our allies," he said.

He added that "everyone has to realise and be aware of the Russian threat."

"It exists, it will exist until the conflict in Ukraine ends in a victory for Ukraine," he said.