Sikorski says Poland has ‘duty’ to shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine

Radoslaw Sikorski stated this in an interview with the Financial Times, Ukrinform reports.

“Membership in NATO does not trump each country’s responsibility for the protection of its own airspace — it’s our own constitutional duty. I’m personally of the view that, when hostile missiles are on course of entering our airspace, it would be legitimate self-defence (to strike them in Ukrainian airspace - ed.) because once they do cross into our airspace, the risk of debris injuring someone is significant,” said Sikorski.

The head of Polish diplomacy insisted on his country’s right to shoot down Russian missiles in Ukrainian airspace after a suspected Russian drone crossed into Poland on August 26 and is still being searched for.

The Polish minister also said the risk of Polish casualties increased the closer a missile was to its target when intercepted, so it was preferable to shoot it down at a high altitude over Ukraine. Sikorski noted that Ukrainians are supportive of this idea.

The Polish Foreign Ministry's position differs from that of the Ministry of National Defense. In particular, Polish Deputy Minister of National Defense Pawel Zalewski said following an informal meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels on August 30 that Polish air defense would not shoot down Russian missiles and attack drones over Ukrainian territory. The Polish official noted that the EU and NATO countries “are not parties to this war”. Instead, Poland is in favor of significantly strengthening Ukraine's defense capabilities.

Zalewski emphasized that Warsaw does not consider the possibility of shooting down Russian missiles or drones from Polish territory in any format, especially bilateral ones.

As Ukrinform reported, according to the Kyiv City Military Administration, in the early hours of September 2, the air defense forces intercepted and destroyed more than 10 cruise missiles and about 10 ballistic missiles, as well as an attack drone in the sky above the capital.

President Volodymyr Zelensky believes that some neighboring countries, including Poland, could shoot down Russian missiles in western Ukraine.

In a comment to Ukrinform, the Polish Foreign Ministry said that from a technical and legal point of view, Poland is considering the possibility of using air defense systems to shoot down Russian missiles near the country's borders, but no decisions have been made in this regard.