Poland's Sikorski says Europe must prepare for 'deep' Russian strike

LONDON (Reuters) -Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski warned on Tuesday Europe must be prepared for Russia to strike deep into the region, calling it "irresponsible" not to build defences such as a "drone wall" on its eastern flank.

In London to unveil an Iranian Shahed-136 drone downed in Ukraine, Sikorski urged European nations to "stay the course" in their support of Ukraine, saying he hoped U.S. President Donald Trump would make long-range Tomahawk missiles available to the country to bolster strikes against Russian infrastructure.

Providing Ukraine with more munitions such as anti-aircraft assets, short-range and medium-range weapons was needed to help protect Europe, he said, pointing to incursions by drones over Poland and fighter jets over Estonia. He said it was not yet known whether drones over Copenhagen were Russian.

Asked about the possibility of expanding an initiative for a "drone wall" to counter future incursions, Sikorski told Reuters Russia could "reach, unfortunately, deep into Europe".

"We should be prepared to counter that, and so I think not to build anti-drone and drone capacity these days would be irresponsible," he said, standing next to the Iranian drone in the house of the British parliament's speaker.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has described as "nonsense" the idea that his country would potentially target a NATO member.

Sikorski, a long-time and strident critic of Putin, urged Europe to also plan to support Ukraine for three more years, a timeframe, he said, Kyiv was also planning for.

"The Ukrainians are planning this war for three years, which is prudent," he said. "And we need to convince Putin that we are ready to stay the course for at least those three years."

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper;Editing by Alison Williams)

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