NATO defences assemble after Russian drone attacks on Poland

0:02Hi, I'm Charlie Duffield and welcome back to The Standard Podcast. if you're new here hit follow and give us a rating for all the latest news head to standard.co.uk coming up later in the show alongside world-class art London's galleries increasingly have a first rate lineup of restaurants for visitors to enjoy and we've rounded up some of the very best for you to try I don't know that when you're planning your day of going to see whatever you're seeing at the Portrait Gallery that you're necessarily thinking that you want to go out for quite an expensive meal, especially if you've travelled in and you've spent all that money there and maybe you've made a big donation.

0:43If you are making a real day of it and then you want a very special meal to cap it off, that's what these places are now offering, which is really interesting. These aren't pit stop places, whereas I think before you went for a cup of sort of weak tea and a fairly stale Chebassa, and that was just part of the experience.

1:02But first, Poland is the closest to open conflict it has been since World War II, the country's Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned, following a widespread Russian attack in western Ukraine. The NATO member hit out at the act of aggression after drones entered its airspace. It's the most significant spread of Russia's attack on Ukraine to NATO territory since the full-scale invasion began more than three years ago. Last night, numerous drones from Russia violated Polish airspace. Our air defenses were activated and successfully ensured the defense of NATO territory, as they are designed to do.

1:42Several allies were involved alongside Poland. This included Polish F-16s, Dutch F-35s, Italian AWACS, NATO military tanker transport and German Patriots. I commend the pilots and all who contributed to this quick and skillful response. That was NATO Secretary General Mark Rutter. Authorities found seven drones and the remains of an unidentified object in sites across the country, an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said. Sir Kirstama has slammed reckless Russian President Vladimir Putin. And Ireland's Deputy Premier Simon Harris said Russia's incursion into Polish airspace has to be a wake-up call for the West.

2:24The UK is going to bolster air defence over Poland in response to Russian drone attacks. Here's UK Defence Secretary John Healy speaking earlier today. We face a new era of threat. War in Europe, rising Russian aggression, and last night Putin hit a new level of hostility. We saw across NATO's eastern border a serious violation of Polish airspace. deep enough for Warsaw Airport to be closed and NATO jets shooting down Russian drones in what is the first defensive action of its kind since Putin launched his full-scale attack on Ukraine and just at the same period as Russia's attacks on Ukraine intensify.

3:10Joining us now is The Standards' Chief Political Correspondent Rachel Burford. Rachel, can you explain what has happened here? So this is the first time that Russian drones have been shot down over Poland since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It resulted in Poland briefly shutting its airspace and beginning a sort of military operation. And that was joined by NATO and Dutch aircrafts. Some people in some Polish regions and along the Ukrainian border that Poland shares were told to stay at home. It's been described as unprecedented by several European leaders this morning.

3:45and Russian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it was another step of escalation by Russia. It's prompted a lot of worry this morning about how we may be sort of entering a world war situation. So what has Russia said about the attack? That is the main question this morning. Was this intentional by Russia? Because obviously if it is intentional, Poland is a member of NATO and this could be seen as an attack on a NATO member, in which case all of the NATO countries have to get together to respond. So that is one of the main questions that leaders are asking themselves this morning. We haven't received a response from Russia directly as yet, but Belarus, which is a close ally of Russia, has claimed the drones lost their way.

4:31I think it was on Telegram that a video was posted on the deputy finance minister of Belarus that the drones lost their way and that Belarus itself had shot some down over its own territory as well. What's the response been from other leaders? Yeah, so Kier Starmer this morning put out a statement. He slammed the reckless, is how he described it, actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He describes the attack on Ukraine as barbaric and said that the fact these drones had strayed into Polish airspace was an egregious and unprecedented violation of Polish and NATO airspace. He said this was an extremely reckless move by Russia and only serves to remind us of President Putin's blatant disregard for peace and the constant bombardment innocent Ukrainians face every day.

5:15He's in touch with the Polish Prime Minister. The Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, has been updating his parliament this morning as well. He says, I have no reason to claim we're on the brink of war, but a line has been crossed and it's incomparably more dangerous than before. This situation brings us to the closest we have been to open conflict since World War III, for his exact words. So it's all quite worrying, I think, for a lot of European nations this morning. So what happens next? There'll be a lot of conversations going on today and over the next few days. Defence Secretary John Healy is hosting his counterparts from Poland, France, Italy and Germany in London today.

5:50So a press conference is due to take place later this afternoon with all five of those ministers. So we'll get some more updates then. And I think European nations are sort of mulling their response now. Poland has formally requested to activate Article 4. It's basically a meeting of NATO allies to discuss the situation and decide on a response, essentially. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine started in 2022, but there had been previously a lot of Russian aggression against Ukraine. Article 4 was actually previously invoked in 2014 in response to that Russian aggression on the border of Ukraine.

6:25Leaders have been pretty adamant this morning in describing this action from Russia as unprecedented. This is the first time that there have been things stray into Polish territory since 2022. But this is the first time, you know, Poland has had to specifically shoot down drones since that full-scale invasion was launched. So if it is sort of decided that this was done on purpose by Russia in a way to sort of test the Western alliances and to test NATO's response, then there's going to be a lot of conversations about that in the next few days and what that will actually mean. Finally, is there anything else you want to add?

7:30disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. So that's adding a distraction element to these whole proceedings. Because I mean, at Primus's questions today, Sikhiya Stam obviously criticised what Russia had done and spoke about how the UK will be sort of mulling responses and things. But he also had to defend his US ambassador. And so he did have confidence in his US ambassador, despite this relationship, you know, and these embarrassing revelations that have come out about Jeffrey Epstein in the last couple of days.

8:00Let's go to a break. Coming up in part two. If you like to combine art with good food, stay tuned for gallery dining experiences at our destinations in their own right. We'll see you back here in just a moment.

8:20Welcome back. London's gallery cafes used to have their own particular brand of greyscale gloom with cramped, crumb-covered tables, but not any more. The capital's arts bosses have overhauled their dining offerings so that the food and drink is on par with the magnificence of the art exhibits. And with autumn just around the corner, surely there's no better time to satiate both your visual and culinary appetite in one of London's many galleries. According to The Standard's restaurant critic and going-out editor, David Ellis, food is an art all of its own, and he joins me now. David, how have London's galleries changed to cater to the appetites of visitors?

9:03I think that's an interesting question because I actually don't think they're catering to most visitors' appetites. Actually, I think most people probably just want to stop by for a sandwich, a cup of tea, maybe a light meal. But what has happened is that they've changed dramatically to try and offer something else to draw you into the museum or gallery. So I actually wonder if it's a way to attract you in and then you might see something else, or if you are there that you don't have to then worry what's nearby because a lot of people who are visiting it, obviously from out of town, don't know London.

9:35It appeals to tourists and people out of London. I think for Londoners, it doesn't really add that much more to them. What's the appeal of eating out in one of the capital's cultural institutions? If you were at the National Portrait Gallery, for example, Richard Corrigan's very good restaurant. Portrait has a beautiful view that looks out over so much of London. It's one of the most famous landmarks. So you would have that. I think if you go to the Royal Academy of Arts and you go to Jose Pizarro's restaurants, it's a very beautiful room. And there's a real sense of occasion when you're dining there.

10:08I think that's a good example of a restaurant that you might just visit anyway. You might not have gone to see the summer exhibition or whatever you've gone for. And that's Instagram you'd also find if you went to any of the many places that are now there in Somerset House, you get to walk around this beautiful building and it's not just going to see what exhibitions they've got on, you can explore different parts of it. So where and what are the best gallery restaurants and what cuisine is on offer? Actually one thing that's good with these is you have quite a variety, so as mentioned at the National Portrait Gallery you've got Richard Corrigan's place, he leans into what he normally does which is modern Irish cooking, very similar to modern British cooking, but maybe with a few Irish inflections.

10:48If you go to the National Gallery, Locatelli is there, which actually is a real benefit for people because Locanda Locatelli, his restaurant that he had for 23 or 24 years and had a Michelin star for many years, has shut. So if you want to experience his food, his approach on Italian cooking, which for many, many years was fated as London's very best and certainly has a huge celebrity following, this is a chance to try that. Somerset House is very diverse. So Sky Gingle has spring, which does very low wastage food in a sort of British vein. There's Aram, which is a Syrian restaurant there. There's also Poon's, which is really interesting at Somerset House.

11:25So Amy Poon is doing this. She's the daughter of Bill Poon, who is one of the best, most decorated and a pioneer of Chinese food in the UK. So it's a to try some of his traditional dishes that she's recreated for today. The RA being Spanish with Jose Pizarro. And if you go to 180 Art Studios, which obviously is not quite as big as the rest of them, they have Okoyi, which is a modern British restaurant that uses West African spicing. For a long time, it's been sort of mislabeled as West African. It doesn't strike me as being that. It's an extraordinarily good restaurant as well. And again, you're not going there because you happen to have gone around the art studios at 180.

12:00You're going there because it's a tremendously good restaurant, albeit one that's£350 a head. So you have to be rich. Have you been to any yourself? Do you have a favourite or any to recommend? Yeah, I can vouch for portraits. I popped in and did the set menu, which is£35 for two courses, which I think is a good way to go for it. And I've been to an Akoyi as astonishingly good. It's the sort of restaurant that if it costs less, I would go more frequently. People often ask me what the best restaurants in London are. I tend not to mention that simply because it's inaccessible for most people. But if you have the money, it really is.

12:34That's tremendous. The others, I've popped my head into Pizarro and I hear very good things. And I've been to Spring, which is a good restaurant, and they do a really good set menu there as well. I haven't been to Locatelli's and I'm not sure why, but I am determined that I will try it. I think initially I was very nervous that he'd sold out and that this was just a retirement plan, which chefs are justified to do. They've worked hard their entire career. If someone wants to license your name, why not but actually I've been hearing that he's done a really good job and the food's really good and that's nice because when you like a place you don't want to see its reputation sullied by a lazy second act and actually it sounds like he's really put the time and effort into this too.

13:11Finally is there anything else you want to add? I think it's interesting that these grand buildings feel the need to do this and maybe it's about having a restaurant that lives up to the space and those sort of sad old tea rooms that we were talking about really didn't do enough for the visitor to the exhibitions or stuff. But I wonder if it would be smarter to find somewhere in the middle. So could you put in a great pasta bar where, like Phil Howard has one called NOSO, which is very good. Could you do something like that in place where actually you can get a really great quick meal that's actually maybe sort of 12 to 15 pounds.

13:49So people can go in and out, but they'll still get quality food. I think these were a response to visitors being disappointed by what they could eat. And some people went really the other way to offer really top end food, which I think is a really nice offering. And it's lovely to have that in those spaces. But I just personally am slightly cynical about the idea that most people want that. I know that when I go to the RA, I'm not really thinking about what I'm going to eat afterwards. But if there's a great pasta bar there as well, I probably would. If I was going to the RA, I'd probably go to Maison Francois, which is no slight on Pizarro at all.

14:18But as I say, if you don't know London particularly well and you haven't put in time to look up all the places around it, then it offers visitors something and it offers chefs something too. Their diners ready and waiting.

14:35And that's The Standard. For all the latest news, head to standard.co.uk. If you'd like to get in touch, please do drop us a line at podcasts at standard.co.uk. we'll be back here tomorrow at 5pm we'll see you then