Poland and other countries bordering Ukraine have a “duty” to shoot down Russian missiles before they enter their airspace, despite NATO’s opposition, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said on Financial Times. Poland thus takes another step forward in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. At least on paper. Warsaw, Sikorski said, has the obligation to guarantee the safety of its citizens and this is true regardless of the fear that interceptions on Ukrainian territory could involve the Atlantic Alliance in the Russian war against Ukraine.
“NATO membership does not remove the responsibility of each country to protect its own airspace: it is our constitutional duty,” Sikorski said in an interview with the British newspaper. “I personally believe that when hostile missiles are about to enter our airspace, it would be legitimate to self-defense (i.e. hit them, ed.) because once they cross our airspace the risk of the debris injuring someone is significant,” added the Polish foreign minister.
Security agreement between Poland and Ukraine
At the beginning of the summer, Warsaw and Kiev signed a bilateral security agreement, according to which both sides undertake to examine “the feasibility of a possible interception in Ukrainian airspace of missiles and UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles, ed.) launched in the direction of Polish territory.” Outgoing NATO Secretary General Jen Stoltenberg had warned of the risks associated with intercepting Russian missiles or drones before they left Ukrainian airspace by NATO members, because it would be tantamount to the Atlantic Alliance becoming “party to the conflict.” Nonetheless, Sikorski insisted on his country’s right to intercept such aircraft after a Russian drone reportedly crossed Poland on August 26.
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Warsaw had spoken of “an unidentified object” that had violated Polish airspace. According to the armed forces, it could have been a Shahed drone, also known as a suicide or kamikaze drone. After flying 25 km over Polish territory, the authorities said, it disappeared. It seemed to have landed in the town of Tyszowce, in eastern Poland, not far from the capital city of Lublin. Since then, Polish authorities have been searching for the drone, which may have returned to Ukrainian territory. Before this incident, at least three cases of violations of Polish airspace have been confirmed since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine. The previous ones involved Russian cruise missiles that ended up in the NATO member country.
