Ukraine's foreign minister convinces EU that Poland shooting down Russian missiles will not make it party to war

Dmytro Kuleba, Foreign Minister of Ukraine, intends to discuss with his European Union counterparts the possibility of allowing EU countries, particularly Poland, to use their air defence capabilities to protect a portion of Ukraine's airspace.

Kuleba rejected the argument that helping Ukraine shoot down missiles would make Poland a party to the war.

"The argument that this would make some of them party to the war is void. You don’t enter the war by shooting down a missile or drone that flies in your direction and may actually inflict damage on your own territory," he said in a comment to Politico.

The foreign minister also noted that he wants neighbouring countries to raise their support for Ukraine to a new level.

"We are talking about planes [not only] flying in Polish air space but being capable of intercepting Russian missiles in Ukrainian airspace," he said.

Kuleba recalled that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed this with NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg at the Alliance summit in July.

"We’ve been working on it since then through military and diplomatic channels, but it’s time to make a decision. You’ve seen just recently how bad Russian missile and drone attacks have been," the Ukrainian minister said.

On 27 August, Zelenskyy said that he wanted Warsaw's help in shooting down missiles over Ukraine’s west, at least the ones heading toward Poland.

In response, Polish officials said that the decision to allow Russian missiles and combat drones to be shot down in Ukrainian airspace using Polish air defence systems has been met with scepticism among NATO countries.