Since the beginning of the large-scale war in Ukraine, Russian missiles have repeatedly flown into Polish airspace.
Several Russian missiles that the Russian Federation has launched at Ukraine since 2022 have crossed Polish airspace. This provocative show of force on the part of Moscow could provoke a wider war, Polish President Andrzej Duda said, writes The Wall Street Journal.
The most recent incident occurred on March 24, when a Russian cruise missile aimed at western Ukraine entered Polish airspace for 39 seconds, according to the Polish military.
“We have no doubt that these are Russian provocations,” Duda said. “We have seen these provocations. Our airspace has been violated several times by Russian missiles.”
While NATO forces have so far made no attempt to intercept the missiles, Duda has expressed concern that one could end up striking Polish territory, destroying infrastructure or causing casualties.
It is noted that since the beginning of the large-scale war in Ukraine, at least three cases of Russian missiles crossing the border with Poland are known.
“These cases are forcing Polish and allied forces to consider how to respond, including whether to try to intercept missiles that cross the border in the future,” the publication said.
According to Duda, shooting down missiles over Polish airspace could lead to casualties due to debris, in addition, NATO members are also wary of shooting down Russian missiles over Ukraine, as this would be direct intervention in the conflict, which Alliance members avoid.
“The Ukrainians say, ‘Yes,’ but our NATO partners say, ‘Don’t do this outside NATO territory,’ and that’s a problem,” Duda said.
At the same time, Duda refused to say how his country would react if the Russian missile did lead to casualties in Poland, or whether he would try to apply the NATO collective defense agreement.
“I think we should try to avoid a situation in which Russia could say that it was provoked by NATO. So far, it has been Russia that has provoked, and everyone can see it,” he said.
The US official said the US had not determined whether the missile attacks on Polish territory were intentional.
But Justin Bronk, a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, noted that one or two incidents may be accidental, but more frequent violations are most likely done on purpose:
“The Russians certainly took care to minimize even the risk of missiles hitting NATO territory due to in-flight disruptions.”
The Russian Federation announced a possible war with Poland
Let us remind you that Russian Foreign Ministry Speaker Maria Zakharova commented on the conditional “yes” of Polish President Andrzej Duda on the deployment of US nuclear weapons on Polish territory.
She threatened Duda: if Poland hosts an American nuclear weapon, there will be a direct military conflict – its territory will be a legitimate target for Russia.
