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Poland muses on possibility of shooting down Russian missiles over Ukraine

There are no tangible decisions yet, Polish Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Pawel Wronski said

MOSCOW, May 22. /TASS/. The possibility of shooting Russian missiles down in the skies over Ukraine using the Polish air defense systems is being considered, but there are no tangible decisions yet, Polish Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Pawel Wronski said.

On May 20, in an interview with Reuters, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky called on the neighboring countries, which are NATO members, to use their combat aircraft to shoot down targets in Ukraine’s airspace. In addition, Zelensky and Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba urged the neighboring counties to use their air defense systems for this purpose.

"The issue is under consideration from the legal and technical points of view, but there are no decisions on this matter yet," Wronski told the Ukrinform news agency.

The spokesperson pointed out that the physical transfer of Polish air defense systems to Ukraine was not in question.

"It is not possible that the Polish air defense system would be outside the country’s borders," the diplomat said.

The Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly urged the West to send them air defense systems and missiles, especially insisting on the delivery of the Patriot missile defense systems. Kiev previously asked for five to seven more such systems, but in early April Zelensky said that the country would rather have 25 Patriot systems. Russia has on several occasions emphasized that the West’s weapons shipments to Kiev and assistance in training Ukrainian troops merely protracts the conflict, but fails to reverse the situation on the battlefield.