Poland's foreign minister hopes Warsaw will be allowed to shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has expressed hope that NATO will authorise Warsaw to use its air defence systems against Russian missiles over Ukraine if they pose a threat to Poland.

Paweł Wroński, spokesperson for the Polish Foreign Ministry, recalled in a comment to Ukrinform that the Polish foreign minister had previously called for NATO forces to engage in intercepting Russian missiles heading toward Poland over Ukrainian territory and "has faced repeated criticism within NATO" for this stance.

"As we know, NATO countries, the organisation itself, and the United States have expressed negative views on this initiative. But Minister Sikorski expects this position to change," the spokesman added.

Earlier, reports indicated that a bipartisan group of US lawmakers had urged President Joe Biden to allow Poland to use its air defence capabilities over Ukraine to shoot down Russian missiles.

Sikorski himself responded as follows: "It's nice to see both Republicans and Democrats supporting the Polish proposal".

Despite Kyiv's calls, the US had previously refused to engage in discussions about shooting down Russian missiles over Ukrainian territory.