In Poland, it is proposed to expand NATO air defense to the Ukrainian border territory.
Almost 70% of Poles believe that Warsaw should shoot down Russian missiles or drones flying towards Poland while still over Ukrainian territory.
This is evidenced by the results of a survey by the IBRiS agency commissioned by Rzeczpospolita. The former commander of the Polish Ground Forces, ex-Deputy Minister of Defense of the country, General Waldemar Skrzypczak, in a commentary to Ukrinform, appreciated this idea.
In his opinion, the Alliance should have long ago made a decision on ensuring that incidents with Russian missiles violating Polish airspace do not take place.
“The North Atlantic Alliance must allocate an area of responsibility and inform the Russians that every missile that flies towards the Ukrainian border with Poland will be shot down,” Skrzypczak said.
The general added that Poland has the right to defend its territory, given the experience with three missiles that previously flew into Polish territory.
“NATO must protect us (the Poles – Ed.) Therefore, there must be a corresponding ultimatum to the Russians: we will defend ourselves, nothing will fly into the territory of Poland and other countries of the Alliance. Therefore, consider where you are launching rockets: anything that comes nearby will be shot down,” he said.
According to him, the zone of destruction of Russian missiles over the territory of Ukraine should be determined not by region, but taking into account technical capabilitiesmissile detection and destruction systems. NATO should coordinate this with Ukraine, because Kyiv is also interested in such protection, the Polish general added.
As European Pravda reports, the former head of the National Security Bureau of Poland, General Stanislaw Kozei, expressed hope that the creation of a common air defense zone would force NATO to act more decisively towards Russia.
What they say in the Polish Ministry of Defense
The Polish Ministry of Defense called the inclusion of part of Ukraine in the NATO air defense system an “extremely complex issue.”
“On the one hand, this would probably require difficult political agreements within NATO. This would be associated with a number of legal and international challenges, especially with the consequences of interceptions of objects in Ukrainian airspace. On the other hand, this would bring with it a number of military operational calls,” the department responded.
How many Russian missiles violated Polish airspace
Recall that since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Polish airspace has been violated three times by missiles.
For the first time, on November 15, 2022, a rocket fell in Przewodow, near the border with Ukraine, killing two people. However, Andrzej Duda noted that the rocket falling on Polish territory was not an attack on the country, but most likely an “accident.” The Polish media began to write that the missile belonged to the Ukrainian air defense, and not the Russians.
However, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky convinced that the missile was not Ukrainian.
At the end of April last year, elements of a rocket, presumably X-55, were discovered in a forest near the city of Bydgoszcz. The Technological Institute of the Polish Air Force has made a preliminary conclusion that this missile is Russian. According to the Institute, the debris found in Poland belongs to a Russian Kh-55 missile, which can carry a nuclear warhead.
Interestingly, this city is located in northern Poland, far from the border with Ukraine.
~6 0~p> On December 29 last year, a missile violated Polish airspace. However, she did not fall, but left the country.
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