Russia hits UK patrol plane with laser in major hybrid war escalation

 Speaking at an EEF Talk session hosted by the East Europe Foundation, Bociurkiw said the declining flow of military support to Ukraine from some Western allies was a troubling sign.

“Some countries think that if we’re far from the conflict — like Australia — then we don’t need to worry about it,” he said. “Well, ask the British what happened a few weeks ago when a Russian intelligence-gathering ship showed up near their territorial waters, mapping undersea cables and directing military-grade lasers at the eyes of Royal Air Force pilots.”

Bociurkiw said that if that doesn’t qualify as a significant escalation in hybrid warfare, it’s unclear what would.

“If this isn’t a massive escalation in hybrid warfare, then I don’t know what is,” he said. “And by the way, it makes me wonder — where’s the threshold for NATO’s collective response? When exactly does something trigger a decision to act?”

He also said Russia and China appeared to be taking cues from each other. Just weeks before the incident off the British coast, Bociurkiw noted, “the Chinese navy posed a threat to civilian aviation near Australian waters.”

“So we can’t allow actions like this,” he said. “Because the bad guys are going to keep doing it more and more.”

In mid-November, the UK Defense Ministry confirmed that a Russian surveillance vessel, Yantar, had directed a laser at a British P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft operating off the coast of Scotland.

While no injuries were reported, defense officials described the move as hostile and warned that such lasers can cause permanent eye damage to pilots.

The P-8A had been monitoring the Yantar, a Russian Navy reconnaissance ship known for surveilling undersea infrastructure such as communication cables.

The same vessel had previously transited near British waters, moving through the North Sea, the Irish Sea, and the Norwegian Sea — regions where this latest incident took place.