Poland Weighs Options to Intercept Russian Missiles Over Ukraine
23 May, 2024 Elements of the Wisla air defense system of Poland. October 2022. Poland.
Frame from the video of the Ministry of Defense of Poland The Polish government is considering the possibility of shooting down Russian missiles over the territory of Ukraine near the Polish border. Pawel Wronski, Polish Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, stated this in his commentary to Ukrinform.
"This issue is being considered from a legal and technical point of view, but there are no decisions in this case," Wronski said, adding that the Ukrainian side had approached the Polish side with this kind of initiative. Wronski said that the issue was raised after a Russian missile violated Polish airspace in March 2024. During a night attack on Ukrainian infrastructure on March 24, the missile violated Polish airspace at 4:23 AM, remained within it for 39 seconds, and then exited.
The missile was monitored by military radars throughout its flight.
Illustrative photo of Tu-95MS with Kh-101 missiles. Photo from reliable sources
The spokesman for the Operational Command, Lieutenant Colonel Jacek Goryszewski, stated that the missile traveled at a speed of nearly 800 kilometers per hour at an altitude of 400 meters. It penetrated approximately 2 kilometers into the country's airspace before exiting.
According to Wronski, there are discussions about whether Polish air defense systems could shoot down such missiles over the territory of Ukraine and what the legal consequences of such a step could be. The Polish Foreign Ministry's Spokesperson noted that international law experts should give their assessment of what legal consequences this step may have, as these are missiles with warheads weighing hundreds of kilograms, and they can cause significant damage on the ground when they fall. In addition, technical experts must assess and agree on the conditions under which these missiles can be shot down.
At the same time, the Polish Foreign Ministry Spokesperson emphasized that it is not a question of physically transferring elements of the Polish air defense system to Ukraine. "There is no discussion about this in Poland at all. There is no possibility of the Polish air defense system being outside the country's borders," Wronski emphasized.
Russian missiles in Polish airspace
On December 29, 2023 Militarnyi reported that a Russian cruise missile violated Polish airspace during a massive Russian missile strike on Ukrainian territory.
The Polish media outlet Wiadomosci reported that the missile was spotted in the vicinity of the village of Wojcuczyn-Kukronia, Hrubieszow County, Lublin Voivodeship.
Possible missile surveillance area. Source: Wiadomosci
The Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army, General Wieslaw Kukula, said that everything points to the fact that the object that flew into Polish territory was a Russian missile. The missile flew about 40 kilometers in Polish airspace but turned back.
Polish forces were ready to bring it down, but it was not necessary in the end. Recall that on April 24, 2023, in a forest near Polish Bydgoszcz, a bystander came across the remains of an unknown object that turned out to be a Kh-55 cruise missile.
A site near Bydgoszcz where an unknown object was discovered. April 2023 Photo credits: RMF FM
The findings of the Institute of Technology indicated that the Kh-55 cruise missile most likely flew to the place from the eastern border of Poland.
This object was tracked, but in the Bydgoszcz area, they lost sight of it. This happened about two kilometers from where the rocket was found by a passerby.
The attitude of Polish society to the interception of Russian missiles
In February 2024, Militarnyi reported that, according to the opinion poll, nearly two-thirds of Polish citizens believed that their country should shoot down Russian missiles flying over Ukraine. Poles believed that Warsaw should initiate negotiations with NATO and Ukraine to expand air defense to the border of Ukrainian territory.
Some Polish experts and former officers of the Polish army spoke about the creation of a common air defense zone when, at the end of December, a Russian missile crossed the border, flew over the territory of Poland, and returned to Ukraine.
Elements of the Wisla air defense system of Poland. October 2022. Poland.
Frame from the video of the Ministry of Defense of Poland
69.3% of polled Poles favored the beginning of the relevant negotiations, 17.6% were against it, and 13.1% weren't sure, the survey showed.
The Polish Ministry of Defense called the inclusion of part of Ukraine in the NATO air defense system "an extremely difficult issue."