NATO chief rejects Polish proposal to shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine

NATO’s secretary general has rejected Poland’s proposal that it could shoot down Russian missiles that are in Ukrainian airspace but heading towards Polish territory. This would risk NATO “becoming part of the conflict”, says Jens Stoltenberg.

The idea was included last week in a security agreement between Poland and Ukraine signed by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Warsaw.

The two countries pledged to bilaterally and with other allies “examine the rationale and feasibility of possible intercepting in Ukraine’s airspace missiles and UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] fired in the direction of the territory of Poland”.

Tusk emphasised that such a policy would only be introduced with “the stamp of approval of the international community, preferably NATO”. However, when asked about the idea by Ukrainian media outlets on Sunday, Stoltenberg responded negatively.

“NATO’s policy is unchanged: we will not be involved in this conflict. We will not become part of the conflict,” he said. “We support Ukraine in the destruction of Russian aircraft, but NATO will not be directly involved.”

Last week, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller was also asked about Poland’s proposal. He said that, for now, there were no changes to US or NATO policy.

“But obviously any time a NATO member wants to raise a policy, they have the ability to do so and discuss it with other heads of state,” he added. “They’ll have a [NATO] summit this week and I’m sure that is something that could be discussed if he [Tusk] would like to do so.”

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On the sidelines of last week’s NATO summit in Washington, Polish foreign minister Radosław Sikorski mentioned the idea of Poland shooting down Russian missiles over Ukraine during a speech at the American Enterprise Institute.

He noted that, while Poland can currently target Russian missiles that enter its airspace – as some already have – doing so can cause debris that in itself is dangerous.

“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,” added Sikorski.

Defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, also speaking in Washington, like Tusk emphasised that Poland would never take such a step unilaterally. “If NATO does not make such a decision, Poland will not make it individually,” he told Polskie Radio.

One NATO ally has, however, expressed openness to the idea. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, speaking to the Polish Press Agency (PAP), said that the proposal “was not raised by [Polish] President [Andrzej] Duda during the North Atlantic Council but it is circulating”.

“My answer is: why not? We have to look for new ideas, because often the old formulas that we stick to are not effective, they do not work. That is why we hear such new ideas,” he added.

Main image credit: President of Ukraine/Flickr (under public domain)

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.