Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Warsaw was considering Kiev’s proposal to shoot down Russian missiles over Ukrainian airspace heading towards Polish territory.
The proposal was included in a joint defense agreement between the two countries signed during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Warsaw earlier this week.
“At this stage, it’s an idea. Our consensus is that we’re going to explore this idea,” Sikorsky said at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
He said some of the Russian missiles were fired at Ukrainian targets near the western city of Lviv, not far from the Polish border in the St. Petersburg region, before passing over Belarus and entering Polish airspace for about 40 seconds before turning toward targets in Ukraine.
Mr Sikorski acknowledged that Poland had little time to respond in such a short space of time.
However, the proposal could theoretically cover any missiles passing through western Ukraine heading towards Poland.
“We are a frontline nation and Russian missiles are violating our airspace. We think it’s a mistake,” Mr Sikorsky said.
“Our dilemma is this: If we shoot them down only when they enter our airspace, the debris poses a threat to our citizens and our property.
“And the Ukrainian side is saying, ‘Please, we don’t care. They can do it in our airspace when there is an imminent danger of them invading Polish territory.’
“I think it’s self-defense, but we’re exploring that idea,” Sikorsky said.
Mr Sikorsky said in December 2022 that an unarmed Russian missile landed near his home in Bydgoszcz, about 500km (311 miles) from the Belarusian border, but caused no harm.
A month ago, when Ukraine shot down a Russian missile near the Polish border, two Polish citizens were killed by shrapnel.
Earlier this week, Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosniak-Kamysh said Warsaw would consult with NATO allies and seek their consent before attempting to shoot down Russian missiles.
“If there is such a decision, it is an alliance decision. It can never be an individual decision,” Kosniak-Kamysh told Poland’s TVN broadcaster at the NATO summit in Washington, D.C.
“Poland will not make such a decision on its own because the core opinion is that the United States is very skeptical about this issue,” he added.
Marek Swierzynski, a defence analyst at Politika Insights, told the BBC the idea could be dangerous for Poland.
“Without strong allied support (which we currently have), this proposal is very dangerous,” he said.
“From the perspective of our air defense assets, and the fact that we might face 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 man-portable air defense missile systems, worth more than €4 billion ($4.4 billion, £3.4 billion).
Poland plans to provide additional military assistance to Ukraine this year.
