Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said Friday that Poland was “exploring” the idea of shooting down Russian missiles over Ukraine if they’re deemed a threat to Polish territory.
Poland recently signed a bilateral security deal with Ukraine, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said included a mechanism for Poland to intercept Russian missiles, but Sikorski said it was still just an idea.
“At this stage, this is an idea. What our agreement said is we will explore this idea,” Sikorski said in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington DC, according to POLITICO.
Sikorski said Poland would have the right to intercept Russian missiles if they were entering Polish territory by mistake, but said there was a “dilemma” that the debris could cause damage if shot down over Poland.
“The Ukrainians are saying, ‘Please, we will not mind, do it over our airspace when they’re in imminent danger of crossing into Polish territory.’ To my mind, that’s self-defense, but we are exploring the idea,” he said.
Russian missiles have entered Polish airspace during Russian bombardments of Ukraine, but only briefly. Back in November 2022, a Ukrainian air defense missile landed in Poland and killed two civilians. Ukrainian officials initially claimed it was a Russian missile, likely in an attempt to get NATO to directly intervene in the war.
A few days before Sikorski’s comments, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysh said Poland would only shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine if NATO agreed with the plan. “If the alliance does not make such a decision, then Poland should in no way make such decisions alone,” he said.
For now, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is ruling out the idea. He was asked on Sunday about the possibility of Poland shooting down Russian missiles and said, “NATO’s policy is unchanged – we will not be involved in this conflict. We will not become part of the conflict. So we support Ukraine in the destruction of Russian aircraft, but NATO will not be directly involved.”
Stoltenberg ruling out the idea doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future. Throughout the war, NATO has taken multiple steps that it previously ruled out as being too escalatory, including the provision of tanks and fighter jets and allowing Ukraine to strike Russian territory with NATO missiles.
The warmongers who run the NATO effort want a larger European War, since they think they cannot "win" in any other way.
They can't win that larger war either. They can only pull down on Europe an even greater disaster of a larger war.
Death and rubble they call victory, that only shows how insane they really are.
Marshall Plan II : Atomic Boogaloo.
Or, the Broken Windows Fallacy, with the only "expense" being European lives.
… NATO, "not part of the conflict." Truth, honesty, integrity, honor, … all gone. What an utterly worthless sack of bones. It's embarrassing to inhabit the same species.
Poland shooting down Russian weapons- even over Ukrainian territory- makes them a de facto belligerent in the conflict, opening that nation up to Russian attacks without triggering NATO defense commitments. All the more so if Russia limits its response to the launch sites of the Polish air defenses.
It shows how mad the Poles are, really scary.
I think Poland thinks it could take on the Russian Federation, with or without NATO.
They are as insidious as the Americans.
They seem even more anti-Soviet than the best American neocon. Might have thought 30+ years of peaceful independence could've lessened some'a that.
They are just not big enough to forgive and forget and move on. And it is the nations establishment, not the people.
OTAN n bomb, otan n bomb, la deedededumbdedumb!
Remember bomb, bomb Iran? McCain is watching from down there and getting ready to dance.
Satan turned him away. Even he has standards.
In Gaza medical people report badly chemically burned casualties, white phosphor causes deadly chemical burns. The kind of American weapons Biden delivers.
"Finish the job" Trump would be no different. Our politicians do what they do, regardless of the pictures of Palestinian babies with missing limbs, decapitated bodies. Just to keep in office, get drunk at cocktail parties, wear U.S. flag pins on their lapels.
I hear now Biden always was a mean person. I believe it. I lived in Europe for most of the time. I did not know much about his time as Senator, I was done with him when he called another head of state a killer after only weeks in office, knowing he will have to meet and talk with him. There are diplomatic manners even an American president has to respect, who does he think he is?
Trump will do the same, he will give oral to BiBi if he ask's. Anything for Israel Ya know!
This' the time, MADMEN LEADING THE BLIND!!!
I plagiarized Shakespeare, it is so true.
But Europe was always the designated battle ground of a war with Russia. Biden the war monger knows it and so does Trump and his neocon cabal.
But this time USA will take a beating on the Homeland,,see how Yall like that…
Shoot me Down if You Can…!
But doesn't what goes up legally hafta come DOWN somewhere ? Newton, plus Blood, Sweat & Tears, gave me that impression.
Biden, Trump, whoever, will not make any difference. I have to laugh at people who actually believe that Trump can pull off things that the donor class, the MIC, AIPAC do not want. Citizens United meant that the corporations are people, very powerful people, with lots of money that politicians needs to get elected and continue their free ride doing nothing constructive for us or the world for that matter. Project 2025 is nothing new. It is just the projected future for us that other countries have enjoyed as they descended into h*ll.
The only hope I have is that since Trump cannot run again he won't have to beg for money from Donors,,his VP will. Biden and the Dems must go, however.
The Trump I know who is hungry for power, and only benefits himself and the fellow billionaires would most likely tell Supreme Court to change the law so he can run for the third term in office….!
netman, U are very mistaken. 🙂
I think it worth noting what the agreement actually says:
The Participants agree on the need to continue their bilateral dialogue and dialogues with other partners, aimed at examining rationale and 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.
https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/ugoda-pro-spivrobitnictvo-u-sferi-bezpeki-mizh-ukrayinoyu-ta-92009
Lots and lots of weasel words in there. And in Sikorsky's statements.
If this insanity should happen, Russia should give Poland a fierce and resolute response. NATO has lost as has the US. All of this macabre is for the defense contractors/war profiteers.
I suspect Russia wouldn't even care if Poland shot down a couple missiles – if they even CAN do that, which is problematic – in Ukraine, as long as it didn't become a real problem for the Russians.
Of course, if it does become a real problem for the Russians, those Polish air defenses will cease to exist. Maybe Poland along with them.