Shooting down Russian targets over Ukraine does not need to be approved at NATO level – Polish expert

The decision to shoot down Russian aerial targets over the territory of Ukraine can be taken by several NATO countries, without the necessity of the unanimous approval by the entire Alliance, but with the consent of other NATO countries.

Janusz Onyszkiewicz, a Polish expert and former Minister of National Defense of Poland, said this in a comment to an Ukrinform correspondent.

The expert emphasized that yesterday's violation of Polish airspace by a Russian aerial vehicle “definitely brings to the fore the issue of the Polish air defense system shooting down Russian aerial targets over the territory of Ukraine.”

“We need to return to this issue and not bury our heads in the sand, because such incidents can still happen in the future,” the former Minister of National Defense of Poland emphasized.

Onyszkiewicz stressed that such a decision does not need to be approved at the NATO level, but rather by one or several NATO countries. However, this need to be agreed with other member states, given “the need for a certain solidarity and unanimity of action within the Alliance.”

Shooting down the missiles may well be an individual decision of Poland, for example, in cooperation with other countries such as the United States or the United Kingdom. But this must be done with the consent of other countries. It must not come as a surprise that there is no resistance from any of the Allies,” the former Minister of National Defense of Poland emphasized.

As Ukrinform reported, during yesterday's massive Russian attack on Ukraine, one Russian drone flew into Poland from the Lviv region. It was on the radar of the Polish air defense system for half an hour. As of today, the search for the drone is underway in Lublin Voivodeship.

Following the Russian air attack, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on partners to allow Ukraine to launch long-range strikes against military targets inside Russia and to agree on the use of Western air defense systems to shoot down missiles and drones.