Poland Considering Shooting Down Russian Missiles Over Ukraine at Kyiv’s Request
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Poland is considering the possibility of using its air defence systems to protect Ukrainian airspace near the borders of the two countries at Ukraine's request. So far, no decision has been made on this issue.
This was stated by Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Paweł Wronski in a comment to RMF24.
"This issue is being considered from a legal and technical point of view, but there are no decisions in this case," Wronski said.
He added that the Ukrainian side had addressed the Polish authorities with such a request. According to Wronski, this possibility should be assessed by experts in international law and technical specialists, who, in particular, will agree on the conditions for the use of air defence over Ukraine.
He noted that this is a matter for discussion and stressed that it is associated with many conditions.
"For example, technical issues regarding the range of these missiles, as well as legal issues. What will happen if the remains of such a missile destroy someone's property or cause someone's death, because this missile does not dissolve in the air," he said.
On 16 May, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy informed Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk that one of Russia's goals is the gas infrastructure in western Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian president, Russia's success there would jeopardise Europe's energy security. He stressed that Ukraine and Poland should work together to find a way to counteract this.
On Monday, this topic was already raised by the President of Ukraine. "Western aid is coming to Ukraine too slowly, our allies can help us more directly, for example, by shooting down Russian missiles over Ukrainian airspace," Zelenskyy said in an interview with Reuters.
On Tuesday, this topic was raised by the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kuleba. He noted that Ukraine is asking its partners to consider the possibility of shooting down missiles fired by Russia at Ukraine from their territory.
There is no legal, security or moral argument that would prevent our partners from shooting down Russian missiles in Ukraine from their territory. Those who claim that such actions would be an escalation are being manipulative, Kuleba said.
"We are asking our partners to consider intercepting Russian missiles - not Russian planes with pilots on board, but the pieces of iron that carry death from Russia to Ukraine," he added.