Poland’s deputy foreign minister said on Tuesday that NATO was considering the possibility of downing Russian missiles that come too close to the alliance’s borders, two days after Poland reported a breach of its airspace.
Warsaw on Sunday said a Russian cruise missile fired overnight at towns in Western Ukraine had entered Polish airspace for 39 seconds, crossing about two kilometers over the border.
The defense minister said Poland activated all defense systems and the missile would have been shot down had there been any sign it was heading toward a target in Polish territory.
Poland’s deputy foreign minister, Andrzej Szejna, told a local radio station “various concepts are being analyzed within NATO” in response to such incidents, “including for such missiles to be shot down when they are very close to the NATO border.”
“But this would have to happen with the consent of the Ukrainian side and taking into account the international consequences,” Szejna said.
Poland’s foreign ministry on Monday noted Russia’s ambassador in Poland did not arrive for a diplomatic summons over the incident.
Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski stated he had spoken with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg about the missile incursion.
Stoltenberg “recalled that NATO has significantly increased its vigilance and enhanced its posture on the alliance’s eastern flank, including in Poland,” a NATO official said.
A Russian missile breached Polish airspace for several minutes before returning to Ukraine in a similar incident in December.
Two people were killed when a Ukrainian air-defense missile fell on a village in Poland near the Ukrainian border in November 2022.
