BERLIN — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the Kremlin deliberately provoked NATO by sending Russian drones into Polish airspace.

The incident showed that Europe’s air defenses need to improve, he said.

“This completely reckless action by the Russian government is part of a long series of provocations that we have been seeing for months in the Baltic region and on NATO’s eastern flank as a whole,” said Merz late Wednesday in Berlin. “This is a very serious threat to peace in Europe.”

Merz said he shared the assessment of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk that the drone incursion was a deliberate act.

“The Russian government’s claim that this was, so to speak, a coincidence or an accident is not credible,” he said.

In the early hours of Wednesday, Poland, with help from Dutch fighter jets, shot down a wave of Russian drones in what appears to have been a move by Russian President Vladimir Putin to test NATO’s defenses. German Patriot air defense systems and an Italian surveillance aircraft were also used to shoot down the drones, according to Mark Rutte, NATO’s secretary general.

Russia’s defense ministry said that no targets had been marked for destruction in Poland, but did not specifically deny that Russian drones crossed the border. The deputy defense minister of Belarus, a dictatorship allied with Moscow, said the drones had “lost their way.”

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that the some 19 drones that entered Polish airspace were apparently sent from Belarusian territory. The drones were identical to the Shahed-type, which Russian forces frequently use to attack Ukraine, according to Pistorius. “These drones were clearly deliberately set on this course,” he told the German parliament.

Merz said the incursion showed NATO’s air defenses in Europe must be significantly improved.

“First of all, I would like to note that European air defense, NATO air defense, worked, but of course not as well as it should have in order to prevent such a large number of drones from entering Polish airspace early enough,” he said. “This will trigger discussions within NATO. It will also trigger discussions within the European Union.”

Merz added: “We are and will remain determined to significantly increase the defense readiness and defense capabilities of the European part of NATO.”