Several Democratic and Republican US congressmen have sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to "give Poland the right to intercept and neutralizes missiles over Ukraine, especially those threatening to invade Polish airspace," The Hill reports.
"Poland's request to intercept and neutralize missiles over Ukraine is necessary and urgent as a mechanism to support Ukraine and protect NATO's borders, US lawmakers say.
They recalled the incident of November 15, 2022, when the Russian army carried out a massive missile attack on the infrastructure of Ukraine and a missile landed on Polish territory near the Polish-Ukrainian border in the village of Przewodów, killing two people. During the investigation, it was established that the missile was Ukrainian, launched during an air defense operation.
The topic of Poland's possible use of air defense systems to eliminate missiles in Ukraine was raised this summer. On July 8, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the agreement between Poland and Ukraine on security cooperation provides for the possibility of intercepting missiles and drones in Ukrainian airspace fired in a western direction.
Two days later, Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosyniak-Kamisz said that Poland would not shoot down Russian missiles flying towards western Ukraine without obtaining permission to do so from the entire North Atlantic Alliance.
He referred to the position of the United States, which does not want an escalation of the conflict. At the time, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg opposed the idea, warning that the alliance would then "become part of the conflict".
In October, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that a US missile defense base would be opened in the coming weeks to intercept not only Iranian missiles aimed at the US, but also Russian missiles flying towards Poland.
p>
The Russian Foreign Ministry called the idea of Polish representatives to intercept missiles over Ukraine "adventurous impulse" and promised that Moscow's response would be "adequate and quite specific". The Ministry of Foreign Affairs defined Sikorski's words as irresponsible.