polish foreign minister says ukraine's neighbors have "responsibility" to intercept russian missiles
2024-09-03
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[xinhua news agency micro special] according to a report by the financial times on the 2nd, polish foreign minister radoslaw sikorski said in an interview with the newspaper that regardless of whether nato objects, poland and other countries bordering ukraine "have the responsibility" to shoot down missiles launched by russia before they enter their airspace.
in an interview with the financial times, sikorski said that despite the risks of intercepting russian missiles, the polish government has an obligation to ensure the safety of its citizens. even if the interception may involve nato in the war between russia and ukraine, the polish government still has the responsibility to protect its airspace, which is a constitutional duty.
countries bordering ukraine by land include poland, slovakia, hungary, romania, moldova, russia and belarus. poland, slovakia, hungary and romania are members of nato.
"when a hostile missile is about to enter our airspace, shooting it down is a legitimate act of self-defense." according to sikorski, due to the risk of injury from missile fragments, the closer the missile interception site is to poland, the greater the risk to the polish people, so it is best to shoot it down "high in ukrainian airspace."
poland and ukraine signed a security agreement this summer to explore the feasibility of "intercepting missiles and drones launched in the direction of poland from ukrainian airspace." nato secretary general jens stoltenberg opposed the proposal, believing that it could make nato "part of the conflict."
the ukrainian government has been trying to get nato involved in its military conflict with russia, including lobbying relevant countries to deploy air defense systems in poland and romania to protect western ukraine. nato is very cautious about any move that could lead to a direct conflict with russia and be involved in a wider war. (end) (zhang zhang, zhang kun)
note: the author of this article is a xinhua news agency reporter in warsaw.
