The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming. No, Hollywood hasn’t released a sequel to the 1966 Norman Jewison comedy film. According to Italy’s defense minister, Guido Crosetto, Moscow’s recent drone incursion over Poland may be a prelude to the real thing.

This unprecedented breach of Polish airspace by more than a dozen Russian drones elicited a strong response from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who expressed Rome’s unswerving support for Warsaw. Signora Meloni pledged Italy’s “full solidarity with Poland over Russia’s serious and unacceptable violation of Polish and NATO airspace.” 

NATO’s skies are indeed inviolable. In an interview with Corriere della Sera, Mr. Crosetto underscored the volatility of such “a new and significant development.” President Vladimir Putin has never launched an armed incursion into European and Western territory.

“Twenty or so drones are not comparable to an attack like the ones Ukraine suffers every day, but neither are they just another military exercise or a simple mistake,” Mr. Crosetto declares. Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, considers Russia’s incursion “an offense to the safety of the entire Euro-Atlantic area.”

Is Russia’s attack on the West a provocation or a test? Whatever the case, Signora Meloni’s boys have reacted swiftly and decisively.

The Wall Street Journal reports that “an Italian airborne early-warning plane,” known by the shorthand Awacs, “and an aerial refueler were launched during the incident,” according to a spokesman for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Colonel Martin L. O’Donnell.

At the London E5 meeting of the defense ministers from the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, France, and Poland, Mr. Crosetto reaffirmed Signora Meloni’s resolve: “Italian aircraft are part of NATO contingents and are ready to defend every NATO member nation, just as we expect Italy would defend itself in the event of an attack. What happened last night is a very serious event.”

Yet Mr. Putin continues to probe and provoke. The New York Times reports that late on Saturday, Romania “deployed two F-16 aircraft shortly after 6 p.m. local time to monitor Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian infrastructure near the Romanian border. About 20 minutes later, they detected the drone in Romanian airspace.”

Again, Signora Meloni came to the aid of another NATO ally, scrambling two Italian Eurofighter Typhoon jets from a Romanian air base to assist in the operation. However, while standing shoulder to shoulder with her partners, Signora Meloni is also laboring on all fronts to end the Russo-Ukrainian war.

“Italy will continue to work to guarantee European security, starting from that of Ukraine, and for the achievement of a just and lasting peace,” said the indefatigable Italian premier.

And the stakes are high.

President Sergio Mattarella of Italy likens recent events in Eastern Europe to the lead-up to World War I: “What is alarming is that we are moving along a ridge from which we could slide into an abyss of uncontrolled violence.”

Imagine a nuclear conflagration dwarfing Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Although Signora Meloni has proposed a NATO-like defense clause for Ukraine following the cessation of hostilities, the prime minister is endeavoring to jumpstart the stalled negotiations over ending the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Yet as she presciently noted to the Wall Street Journal in the wake of the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska: “Clearly there are no easy solutions, when it comes to ending a war, to building peace.”

Signora Meloni can prod President Trump into punishing Mr. Putin with severe trade sanctions. Italy has no reliance on Russian oil. Signora Meloni, who also enjoys a special relationship with India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, can prevail upon him to inflict significant economic pain on Russia — despite Mr. Modi’s recent appearance at the Shanghai Summit.

According to Decode39, Mr. Modi and Signora Meloni “agreed that a peaceful resolution to the conflict is urgent,” and Mr. Modi “reiterated India’s support for efforts in this direction.”

And at the seismic European Space Agency conference held at Frascati on September 12, Signora Meloni’s Italy sent a message to the tyrant in the Kremlin.

That is, Europe is committed to reinforcing, strengthening, and augmenting the Continent’s strategic autonomy and superiority in defense, space, hybrid warfare, and cybersecurity.

Moreover, in exploring “all the possible solutions to guarantee peace, to guarantee justice, to guarantee the security of our nations,” Signora Meloni has struck a Kennedyesque tone of defiance that may well win the day for the West.