Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski noted that Poland and other countries bordering Ukraine are obliged to shoot down Russian missiles before they enter their airspace, despite NATO's opposition.
Points of attention
- Poland considers shooting down Russian missiles over Ukraine as its duty in order to ensure the safety of its citizens and protect its own airspace.
- President of Ukraine Zelenskyi emphasizes the importance of cooperation and interaction with Poland in the field of defense and security, especially when defending against the threat of Russian missiles.
- Shooting down missiles flying in the direction of gas storage facilities in Ukraine is of strategic importance for the security of not only Ukraine, but also neighboring countries that receive gas from these storage facilities.
Why should Poland shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine
As the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Radoslaw Sikorski, pointed out, Poland is obliged to ensure the safety of its citizens, despite the fear that the interception of missiles over the territory of Ukraine could involve NATO in a war with Russia.
Membership in NATO does not cancel the responsibility of each country to protect its own airspace — it is our own constitutional duty. "I personally believe that when enemy missiles are headed for our airspace, it would be legitimate self-defense (to shoot them down) because once they cross our airspace, the risk of someone being injured by debris is significant," Sikorsky said.
Sikorsky also praised the UDF for the Kursk operation, as it shocked Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and showed him that "the victim doesn't always do what you expect."
Not only Ukraine, but also the whole West should throw Putin off balance, and one of the mistakes that our side constantly made is that we told Putin in advance what we would do or not do - and that is why the result of this [ Kursk ] raid is much better than last year's counterattack, which was so easy to predict and, therefore, to prepare for, Sikorsky concluded.
Zelensky clarified the importance of Poland shooting down Russian missiles in the sky of Ukraine
According to Zelenskyi, this is primarily a question not only of the security of the NATO country of Poland, but simply of the security of people in Poland. Because just a rocket can get there and cause a tragedy.
We just have different opinions about this direction. And I think that would be fair. For the security of the western part of our country, where the gas storages are, and for Poland, because it is the same direction of the Russian missile. I believe that it is absolutely fair if Poland helps us to shoot down missiles that are headed in the direction of Poland, - said Zelensky.
He noted that we are talking in particular about missiles that fly in the direction of gas storage facilities in Ukraine, where they often fly. Zelensky drew attention to the fact that the countries that are skeptical about this idea are precisely those countries that use gas from Ukrainian gas storages.
It seems to me that this skepticism of the countries should decrease, because if we do not protect our gas storages, then these countries will remain without gas during the heating season. Our closest neighbors. We have signed bilateral security guarantees with Poland, where there is a technical consideration of this issue. We raised this topic and raised it legally, Volodymyr Zelenskyi emphasized .
