Polish Foreign Minister: Shooting Down Russian Missiles Over Ukraine Is Poland's Duty
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that Poland is obliged to shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine.
The head of the Polish Foreign Ministry made this statement in an interview with the Financial Times.
What Sikorsky said about the interception of Russian missiles
The minister said Poland had a duty to ensure the safety of Poles, despite concerns that intercepting Russian missiles over Ukraine could draw NATO into the conflict.
According to Sikorski, membership in the alliance does not outweigh the responsibility of each state to protect its airspace.
This is our constitutional duty, said the head of Polish diplomacy.
In his opinion, this implies the destruction of Russian missiles over Ukraine before they penetrate Polish airspace.
Sikorsky noted that the Ukrainian side is not against this approach.
The FT recalls that Poland and Ukraine have signed a security agreement in which they pledged to study the possibility of intercepting missiles and drones fired in the direction of Poland in Ukrainian airspace.
On July 8, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the country would discuss with NATO allies the possibility of intercepting missiles over western Ukraine near the Polish border.
The US reacted to this idea with skepticism. In particular, the coordinator of strategic communications at the White House National Security Council, John Kirby, said that this was fraught with escalation.
Recently, Sikorsky discussed with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba Ukraine's request to NATO countries to use their air defense systems to protect Ukrainian airspace.
The Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly called on Western countries to shoot down missiles over Ukrainian territory from their territory.
At the same time, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg noted that the alliance's policy would not change and that it would not be directly involved in the conflict, while US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated that Kyiv itself should be responsible for protecting the skies and the operation of air defense and should not count on the involvement of third-country forces.
