Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has said Warsaw is considering a proposal from Kyiv to shoot down Russian missiles heading towards Polish territory while they are still in Ukrainian airspace.
The proposal was included in a joint defence agreement between the two countries signed during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Warsaw earlier this week.
"At this stage, this is an idea. What our agreement said is we will explore this idea,” Mr Sikorski told the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
He said some Russian missiles fired from the St Petersburg area towards Ukrainian targets near the western city of Lviv, not far from the Polish border, traversed Belarus and entered Polish airspace for about 40 seconds before turning towards their targets in Ukraine.
Mr Sikorski acknowledged that such a short time gave Poland little time to react.
However the proposal would theoretically cover any missile traversing western Ukraine in the direction of Poland.
“We are a frontline state and Russian missiles breach our airspace. We assume by mistake," Mr Sikorski said.
“Our dilemma is the following. If we shoot them down only when they enter our airspace the debris is a threat to our citizens and to our property.
"And the Ukrainians are saying, ‘Please, we will not mind, do it over our airspace when they’re in imminent danger of crossing into Polish territory.