Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski Calls Warsaw’s Duty to Intercept Russian Missiles
Poland and other countries bordering Ukraine are “obliged” to shoot down incoming Russian missiles before they enter their airspace, despite NATO opposition, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said, according to Financial Times (FT).
According to him, Warsaw is obliged to ensure the safety of its citizens, despite concerns that interceptions over Ukrainian territory could draw the North Atlantic Alliance into a war with Russia. “NATO membership does not cancel the responsibility of each country to protect its airspace – this is our own constitutional duty,” the head of the Polish Foreign Ministry noted.
It is specified that this summer Poland signed a bilateral security agreement with Ukraine, in which the two countries committed to study “the possibility of intercepting missiles and UAVs launched in the direction of Polish territory in Ukrainian airspace.” However, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg rejected this proposal, since it threatens the alliance “to become part of the conflict.”
As the newspaper notes, some Western officials say such a policy will blur the red lines of Western intervention and possibly provoke Russian retaliation. In their view, Kyiv is pushing its Western allies to become more involved in the war, including by providing air cover over western Ukraine from batteries located on NATO territory.
Earlier, Polish Deputy Defense Minister Pawel Zalewski said that the Polish Defense Ministry was not considering the possibility of shooting down Russian missiles over Ukraine. He emphasized that Western allies had already significantly strengthened Ukraine’s air defense.
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