NATO can down drones and missiles in Ukraine as they do in Middle East, but no agreement yet – Zelenskyy
After a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed hope that NATO countries will change their position on protecting Ukraine's skies.
At a press conference after his meeting with the NATO Secretary General, the President said that he saw no fundamental difference in the issue of protecting the airspace of Israel, which is being helped by allies to shoot down Iranian missiles and drones, and Ukraine.
"Today we talked about Ukraine's air defence needs and cooperation with its neighbours. We see, in particular, how people's lives in the Middle East can be protected due to the unity of our allies. The joint shooting down of Iranian missiles is no different from shooting down Russian missiles and from shooting down Iranian-delivered Shahed attack drones, which connect the Russian and Iranian regimes," he said.
Zelenskyy said he expected NATO to change its approach to helping Ukraine defend its skies.
"More determination from partners in our region is what is needed to put an end to Russian terror. We will continue to persuade our partners," he said.
Rutte, answering the same question, evaded a detailed answer about the possibility of shooting down Russian missiles over Ukraine.
However, Zelenskyy added a short phrase that "the allies are not ready [to defend Ukrainian skies – ed.]".
Earlier, the Polish Foreign Minister said that Poland and other countries bordering Ukraine must shoot down Russian missiles before they enter their airspace.
The Polish Foreign Ministry clarified that Sikorski expressed his personal opinion, not the government's position.
The Romanian media have unofficially learned that the parliament wants to discuss changes to legislation that would allow the shooting down of drones that enter the country’s airspace. As is known, the downed Shahed drones have repeatedly crashed on the Romanian side of the Danube, and sometimes have flown deep into the border.