(ANSA-AFP) - WARSAW, SEP 2 - Warsaw has a "constitutional
duty" to shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine that are on
course to hit Polish territory, Poland's foreign minister told
the Financial Times in an interview published Monday. The Polish
top diplomat's remarks come a week after the NATO country's
airspace was breached by what the army said was likely a drone
after Russia pummelled neighbouring Ukraine with deadly strikes.
Despite a week-long ground search, the suspected drone has not
been found. During a new wave of Russian aerial attacks on
Monday, Poland scrambled its fighter jets to the Ukrainian
border to protect its airspace. "Membership in NATO does not
trump each country's responsibility for the protection of its
own airspace - it's our own constitutional duty," Foreign
Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told FT in an interview. "I'm
personally of the view that, when hostile missiles are on course
of entering our airspace, it would be legitimate self-defence
(to strike them) because once they do cross into our airspace,
the risk of debris injuring someone is significant," he added.
Following Sikorski's comments, a NATO official said that the
alliance "has a responsibility to prevent Russia's war from
escalating further," adding that "NATO is not a party to the
conflict and NATO will not become a party to the conflict".
(ANSA-AFP).
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