“NATO is studying the possibility of shooting down Russian missiles if they get too close to NATO border”

“NATO is studying the possibility of shooting down Russian missiles if they get too close to NATO border” | War Ukraine and Russia

NATO is studying the possibility of shooting down Russian missiles that come too close to the borders of the Western alliance. The Polish Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs said this, a few days after a new violation of the airspace of NATO member Poland.

According to Deputy Minister Andrzej Szejna, “different concepts” are being studied within NATO. “Including shooting down these missiles when they are very close to NATO’s borders,” he said on Polish radio.

Such a measure can only be taken with Ukraine’s consent, Szejna stressed. Moreover, “international consequences” must also be taken into account.

During missile attacks on Ukraine, Russia violated Poland’s airspace for 39 seconds on Sunday morning. The Polish Ministry of Defense emphasized that anti-aircraft defenses were ready and that the missile would have been shot down if it turned out that it was heading for a target on Polish territory.

Russian fighter plane fires a missile during an attack on Ukrainian territory. © AP

Warsaw had also reported at the end of December that a Russian missile had crossed its airspace for a few minutes. A year earlier, in December 2022, a Russian cruise missile landed in a forest in northern Poland. In November of that year, a Russian missile had already fallen on a Polish village near the border with Ukraine, resulting in two deaths.

It could be an option for NATO to shoot down missiles before they enter NATO airspace. However, this could be used by Moscow to justify an escalation into a broader conflict beyond Ukraine’s borders. Previous border crossings by Russian missiles have gone unanswered by NATO.

The United States said Tuesday that it remains prepared to fulfill its NATO obligations and defend the alliance in the event of an attack. “What the administration says repeatedly is that we will defend every inch of NATO territory,” said Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokesperson, when asked for a response to the Polish statements. “Should a NATO ally be attacked – we certainly don’t want that to happen – we will defend every inch of NATO.”