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Poland and other countries bordering Ukraine have a “duty” to shoot down incoming Russian missiles before they enter their airspace despite the opposition of Nato, the Polish foreign minister has said.
Radosław Sikorski told the Financial Times in an interview that Warsaw had an obligation to ensure the safety of its citizens irrespective of fears that interceptions over Ukrainian territory could embroil the Atlantic alliance in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“Membership in Nato does not trump each country’s responsibility for the protection of its own airspace — it’s our own constitutional duty,” Sikorski said.
“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] because once they do cross into our airspace, the risk of debris injuring someone is significant.”
Poland signed a bilateral security agreement with Ukraine earlier this summer in which the two countries undertook to examine “the feasibility of possible intercepting in Ukraine’s airspace missiles and UAVs fired in the direction of territory of Poland, following necessary procedures agreed by the states and organisations involved”.
However, Jens Stoltenberg, the outgoing Nato secretary-general, rejected the proposal, saying it risked the alliance “becoming part of the conflict”.
Sikorski insisted on his country’s right to intercept after a suspected Russian drone crossed into Poland on August 26. Polish authorities have since been searching for the UAV, which may have landed back on Ukrainian territory after probably straying off course during a Russian mass missile attack on Ukraine.
Other missiles have landed in Poland since Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022, while Russian drones also recently strayed into Romania’s airspace.
Sikorski 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 higher altitude over Ukraine.
“Ukrainians have told us: you’re welcome,” he added.
Some western officials say such a policy would blur red lines over western intervention and possibly prompt Russian retaliation. Kyiv has been pushing its western allies to become more involved in the war, including by providing air defence cover over western Ukraine from batteries located on Nato territory.
It has also repeatedly pressed its allies to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Nato has rebuffed such calls, saying it could bring it into direct conflict with Russian forces.
Mircea Geoană, Nato’s outgoing deputy secretary general, told the FT: “We have to do whatever we can to help Ukraine and do whatever we can to avoid escalation. And this is where the line of Nato is consistent from the very beginning of the war.
“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 — and our Polish allies have always been impeccable in consulting inside the alliance,” Geoană added.
However, many Ukrainians are hopeful Nato’s position will evolve.
“We’ve seen that some red lines can be moved,” said Mykola Nazarov, a security analyst with the Globsec think-tank in Kyiv, referring to the decisions by western capitals to send long-range missiles, modern tanks and F-16 fighter jets.
“The Ukrainians are putting a lot of pressure to allow Poland to intervene also because Ukraine doesn’t have the air resources to cover well all of its territory, particularly now western Ukraine.”
Sikorski said it was too early to judge the military success of Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region of western Russia, which began on August 6. But he welcomed the offensive as a way to shock Russian President Vladimir Putin and show him that “the victim doesn’t always do what you expect”.
Sikorski added: “Not just Ukraine but the entire west should keep Putin off balance and one of the mistakes that our side has made consistently is telling Putin in advance what we will or we will not do — and that is why the result of this [Kursk] foray is so far better than the counteroffensive last year, which was so plain to anticipate and therefore to prepare for.”
Ahead of the US presidential election, Sikorski suggested that European politicians should do more to convince the American public and its politicians that Europe was not a laggard in contributing to international security.
“We have a good story to tell: not only are we spending more on defence but we are actually spending more on Ukraine than the United States,” he said, when adding to military spending the higher financial and humanitarian aid supplied by Europe.
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