NATO’s Stoltenberg opposes Poland shooting down missiles over Ukraine’s skies

4 months ago 10

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg opposed the idea that Poland could shoot down Russian missiles over Ukrainian regions close to the Polish border, as requested by Kyiv.

Earlier this month, Olena Kondratiuk, deputy speaker of Ukraine’s single-chamber parliament, suggested to her Polish counterpart, Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, that Warsaw could protect the airspace of Ukraine’s neighbouring regions.

Kidawa-Błońska, the speaker of the Senate, did not immediately respond to the idea.

Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said during last week’s NATO summit in Washington that Poland would not defend the skies over Ukraine unless NATO authorised such action.

“We will not decide to shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine without the alliance’s support and approval,” Kosiniak-Kamysz told the Polish media, adding that Poland would raise the issue in bilateral talks with other NATO countries.

Asked by Ukrainian broadcaster Edyni Novyny, Stoltenberg ruled out that Poland or any other NATO country could shoot down Russian missiles over Ukrainian territory.

“NATO will support Ukraine, and we have recently increased our support. But NATO’s policy remains unchanged – we will not participate in this conflict,” he said, referring to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“We will not become part of the conflict. Therefore, we support Ukraine in destroying Russian aircraft, but NATO will not be directly involved,” he stressed.

The proposal for Poland to shoot down Russian missiles heading towards Polish territory while they are still in Ukrainian airspace was included in a security cooperation agreement signed by Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw this week.

Following the agreement, Tusk pointed to the need to discuss the downing of missiles over Ukraine towards Poland on 8 July, stressing that the issue required NATO solidarity.

Zelenskyy said he was “confident” the arrangement could be implemented quickly, although Poland would consult its NATO allies before attempting to shoot down any Russian missiles.

“At this stage, this is an idea. What our agreement said is we will explore this idea,” Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski told the American Enterprise Institute during the Washington summit.

“Our dilemma is the following. If we shoot them down only when they enter our airspace, the debris is a threat to our citizens and to our property,” the minister added.

“And the Ukrainians are saying, ‘Please, we will not mind, do it over our airspace when they are in imminent danger of crossing into Polish territory’”.

Kyiv’s proposal would refer to any missile traversing western Ukraine that would head in the direction of Poland.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)