Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski (centre right) received US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Warsaw on Thursday 12 September, returning from kyiv, before heading to the Ukrainian capital himself. In an interview with Monde, On Wednesday, he justified the need to allow Ukraine to strike military targets on Russian territory with long-range missiles.
Your American and British colleagues met President Volodymyr Zelensky in kyiv on Wednesday, who reiterated his urgent request to be able to carry out deep strikes in Russia. Should this be accepted?
It all depends on the goal. Does Ukraine win – by which I mean regain control of its international borders – or does it endure? The problem with the latter strategy is that kyiv’s capacity to endure is not infinite.
The February 2022 invasion by Russia was condemned by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, with one of its largest majorities. This means that the victim of aggression has the right to defend himself, including on the territory of the aggressor. This vote enshrines not only Ukraine’s right but also the obligation of the international community to take countermeasures to restore the application of international law that Russian President Vladimir Putin has flagrantly violated.
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I understand the argument of those who need to control the temperature of this conflict. But what worries me is that we are constantly questioned about Vladimir Putin’s “red lines,” never about ours.
Poland is the only country in the European Union (EU) that is a neighbour of both Russia and Ukraine: we have a fairly clear red line, which is to prevent our citizens from being killed by Russian missiles or drones that enter our airspace because the Russians have lost control of it. And I don’t see why Ukraine couldn’t shoot down the bombers that launched these missiles or target the air bases from which they are launched. That seems to me to be a perfectly legitimate military target.
But NATO does not want Poland to shoot down Russian missiles over Ukrainian territory?
It so happens that Ukraine is asking us to do this. And according to our Constitution, the first duty of the Polish army is to protect our borders, which also applies to the airspace. When a missile comes within range of our airspace, my personal opinion is that we have the right to self-defense. These missiles have absolutely no place here.
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