Poland says has ‘duty’ to down stray Russian missiles

WARSAW: Warsaw has a “constitutional duty” to shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine that are on course to hit Polish territory, Poland´s foreign minister told the Financial Times in an interview published on Monday.

The Polish top diplomat´s remarks come a week after the Nato country´s airspace was breached by what the army said was likely a drone after Russia pummelled neighbouring Ukraine with deadly strikes.

Despite a week-long ground search, the suspected drone has not been found. During a new wave of Russian aerial attacks on Monday, Poland scrambled its fighter jets to the Ukrainian border to protect its airspace.

“Membership in Nato does not trump each country´s responsibility for the protection of its own airspace - it´s our own constitutional duty,” Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told FT in an interview.

“I´m personally of the view that, when hostile missiles are on course of entering our airspace, it would be legitimate self-defence (to strike them) because once they do cross into our airspace, the risk of debris injuring someone is significant,” he added.

Following Sikorski´s comments, a Nato official said that the alliance “has a responsibility to prevent Russia´s war from escalating further,” adding that “Nato is not a party to the conflict and Nato will not become a party to the conflict”.

“We recognise the right of every ally protect its own airspace, however what individual allies do in support of Ukraine can also matter for Nato as a whole,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.