Poland considers downing Russian missiles over Ukraine

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has said Warsaw is considering a proposal from Kyiv to shoot down Russian missiles heading towards Polish territory while they are still in Ukrainian airspace.

The proposal was included in a joint defence agreement between the two countries signed during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Warsaw earlier this week.

“At this stage, this is an idea. What our agreement said is we will explore this idea,” Mr Sikorski told the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

He said some Russian missiles fired from the St Petersburg area towards Ukrainian targets near the western city of Lviv, not far from the Polish border, traversed Belarus and entered Polish airspace for about 40 seconds before turning towards their targets in Ukraine.

Mr Sikorski acknowledged that such a short time gave Poland little time to react.

However the proposal would theoretically cover any missile traversing western Ukraine in the direction of Poland.

“We are a frontline state and Russian missiles breach our airspace. We assume by mistake,” Mr Sikorski said.

“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.

“And 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-defence but we are exploring the idea,” Mr Sikorski said.

Mr Sikorski said an unarmed Russian missile landed near his home in Bydgoszcz about 500km (311 miles) from the Belarusian border, without harming anyone, in December 2022.

Two Polish citizens had been killed by falling debris when Ukraine shot down a Russian missile near the Polish border a month earlier.

Earlier this week, Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said Warsaw would consult with its Nato allies and seek their agreement before attempting to shoot down any Russian missiles.

“If there would be such a decision, it can only be an allied decision. It will never be an individual decision,” Mr Kosiniak-Kamysz he told Poland’s TVN broadcaster at a Nato summit in Washington DC.

“The key opinion is the United States, who is quite sceptical in this matter, so Poland will certainly not make such a decision on its own,” he added.

Marek Swierczynski, a defence analyst for Polityka Insight, told the BBC the idea could prove perilous for Poland.

“Without robust allied support, which there isn’t, this proposal is very risky,” he said.

“From the point of view of our air defence assets and the fact we might be subject to some kind of Russian response.”

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Poland has provided Ukraine with 44 packages of weapons and ammunition, including more than 250 tanks, MiG-29 fighter jets, combat helicopters, artillery systems and portable air defence missile systems worth more than €4bn ($4.4bn; £3.4bn).

Poland plans to provide additional military assistance to Ukraine this year.