For NATO air defenses with little direct experience with the drone attacks now emerging as a dominant feature of modern warfare, the incident might even have been educational—like a child’s foray on training wheels—but some aircraft managed to penetrate deep into Poland.

Alarms bells sounded this week in Europe after NATO jets scrambled to intercept an unprecedented Russian drone incursion in Poland. Now there is fresh unease on NATO’s eastern flank, as Russia and Belarus kick off major military drills to test the readiness of their armed forces.

Europe has "nowhere near enough volume to defend itself in the event of a major and protracted war," Matthew Savill told Newsweek.

For more than three years, Ukraine has waged an almost nightly battle against Russian attack drones. NATO on Wednesday got a taste of that fight. Polish authorities said they detected 19 violations of their airspace,

NATO fighter jets shot down multiple Russian drones that violated Polish airspace during an attack on neighboring Ukraine early on Wednesday, as the military alliance denounced Moscow for “absolutely dangerous” behavior that ratcheted up tensions to a new level.

Early this morning, Russia sent a swarm of drones into Poland. The crisis of the NATO alliance that people on both sides of the Atlantic have been denying or trying to put off is now here: This is the moment when the world finds out whether the United States remains committed to the defense of its allies.