Tusk Says NATO Chief Flagged Possible Russian 'Provocation' in Poland

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk dropped a warning on Tuesday: NATO's top military commander in Europe told him Russia could be cooking up a 'provocation' in Poland in early November. The heads-up came from Supreme Allied Commander Europe Alexus Grynkewich, according to Breaking The News. Tusk kept the specifics under wraps, but made clear he wasn't treating it as background noise.

He didn't stop at the warning. Tusk also told opposition politicians to quit 'making useful idiots of themselves,' saying he had information that pro-Russian politician Janusz Korwin-Mikke is set to visit Belarus. It's a pointed jab as Warsaw braces for whatever early November might bring, and it lands against a backdrop of already-fraught relations with Moscow and Minsk.

The timing is no accident. Just hours earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia fired 289 drones, 17 ballistic missiles and 59 cruise missiles overnight at Ukrainian infrastructure — Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Chernihiv and more on the target list. Zelensky also said rescue work has been running in the Zaporizhzhia region since yesterday, with 29 people killed and five injured in recent strikes.

Diplomacy is grinding along in parallel. Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov confirmed Tuesday that a fresh round of trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the US will happen in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11, with Vladimir Medinsky leading Moscow's delegation. Peskov also claimed Ukraine keeps hitting Russian energy infrastructure and said Russia will add new protective measures — a claim from the Kremlin side of the table.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Zelensky would make an unannounced visit to Berlin on Tuesday, kept quiet for security reasons. Merz spoke before the Berlin Chamber of Industry and Commerce, per Breaking The News. The visit follows US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff saying the Abu Dhabi talks are set for next week, with European representatives also expected in the mix.

Back in Warsaw, Tusk paired the security talk with a financial move, signing a motion to appoint new members of the National Bank of Poland's management board. His reasoning was blunt: 'someone in our country has to stabilize the zloty.' With Russian pressure looming and the currency in his sights, Tusk is signaling Poland won't wait around to find out what early November holds.