Tusk says Poland will shoot down objects that clearly violate airspace

Poland will not hesitate to shoot down objects that violate its airspace and pose a threat, but will take a more cautious approach to less obvious situations. This was announced by the Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk, quoted by Reuters.

"We will decide to shoot down flying objects when they violate our territory and fly over Poland – this is absolutely not discussed," Tusk said.

He added that when Poland is faced with "situations that are not entirely clear, such as Russian fighter jets flying over the Petrobaltic platform, but without any violation, because these are not our territorial waters, we need to think twice before deciding on actions that could provoke a very acute phase of the conflict".

Polish PM emphasizes that he also needs to make sure that Warsaw will not be left alone in case of escalation of the conflict.

"I also need to be absolutely sure that all allies will treat this the same way as we do," he said.

• On September 19, Russian MiG-31 fighters violated Estonian airspace near Tallinn. In total, they were over Estonia for about 12 minutes. The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Russian Charge d'Affaires to protest.
• On the same day, two Russian fighter jets violated the security zone of the Polish Petrobaltic drilling platform in the Baltic Sea. More than a week earlier, two dozen Russian UAVs violated Polish airspace.