Poland has ‘duty’ to down Russian missiles over Ukraine – FM

Warsaw has a right to “self-defense,” despite concerns over escalation of the conflict, Radoslaw Sikorski has said

Poland and other NATO members bordering Ukraine must be able to shoot down Russian missiles and drones that they believe pose a threat, even if they are not in their airspace, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has said.

In an interview with the Financial Times on Monday, Sikorski argued that Poland has a “constitutional duty” to protect its territory, adding that this also applies to other members of the US-led military bloc.

“When hostile missiles are on course of entering our airspace, it would be legitimate self-defense [to shoot them down] because once they do cross into our airspace, the risk of debris injuring someone is significant,” he stated.

In July, Poland and Ukraine signed an agreement stressing the need for discussions, including with other partners, “aimed at examining rationale and feasibility of possible intercepting in Ukraine’s airspace missiles and UAVs fired in the direction of territory of Poland.” 

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Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, however, stressed that Warsaw would not shoot down Russian missiles without NATO approval, as some of its members have repeatedly voiced concerns that such actions could bring the entire bloc to the brink of a direct conflict with Moscow.

Meanwhile, Mircea Geoana, NATO deputy secretary general, stressed that while the bloc has to do “whatever we can to help Ukraine,” it is trying to avoid escalation. “Of course, we respect every ally’s sovereign right to deliver national security. But within NATO, we always consult before going into something that could have consequences on all of us,” he stated. Warsaw has “always been impeccable” when it comes to communicating with NATO allies, Geoana added.

Commenting on Sikorski’s remarks, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova suggested that Poland was seeking to “fuel the conflict,” claiming that the ultimate goal of Warsaw is to occupy Western Ukraine, part of which was Polish territory before World War II.

In recent months, Poland has frequently scrambled its air force as Russia continues to conduct long-range strikes against Ukraine’s military and energy infrastructure, as well as its defense industrial complex.

While Poland has regularly sounded the alarm about the possibility of stray Russian drones and projectiles flying into its territory, one of the most notorious such incidents came when a Ukrainian air defense missile killed two Polish civilians near the border village of Przewodow in November 2022. The tragedy sparked initial accusations against Moscow and widespread concerns of a potential NATO-Russia war.