NATO Considering Shooting Down Russian Missiles Near Borders: Poland Minister

Defense News ,Poland :- In Poland, they're talking about a serious matter. It's about what to do if a missile from Russia gets too close. The deputy foreign minister of Poland, Andrzej Szejna, talked about this on Tuesday. He said NATO might shoot down Russian missiles that come too near NATO's borders. This talk came after Poland reported a breach of its airspace.

What happened was that a Russian cruise missile flew over western Ukraine. But it also crossed into Polish airspace for about 39 seconds. It passed just about two kilometers over the border.

The Polish defense minister said they activated all their air defense systems. If they had any hint that the missile was heading towards Poland, they would have shot it down.

Szejna talked on a local radio station called RMF24. He mentioned that NATO is thinking about different plans. One of them is to shoot down such missiles when they are very close to the NATO border. But Szejna added that for this to happen, Ukraine would need to agree. They also need to think about what would happen internationally.

Poland's foreign ministry also tried to talk to Russia about the incident. They called Russia's ambassador in Warsaw to explain. But the ambassador didn't show up.

Later on, Poland's Foreign Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, had a conversation with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. They discussed what had happened with the missile.

Stoltenberg mentioned that NATO is watching closely. They are taking extra precautions on the eastern side of NATO, which includes Poland.

This isn't the first time such a thing has happened. In December, a Russian missile entered Polish airspace for a few minutes before going back to Ukraine.

In November 2022, two people died when a missile from Ukraine fell on a Polish village near the border.

Before they knew it was from Ukraine, people worried that NATO would get involved. Poland is a part of NATO. If something like this happens, NATO has rules that might mean they have to step in. This could lead to more tension with Russia.