Poland Scrambles Fighter Jets As Russia Strikes Far Western Ukraine

Another overnight Russian missile and drone attack on Ukraine included major strikes on the far western city of Lviv, which lies hundreds of miles from the front lines, which resulted in seven people killed, according to Ukrainian authorities.

These stepped-up strikes are widely viewed as retaliation for Kiev forces’ ongoing Kursk cross-border offensive. But given that missiles rained down so close in proximity to Ukraine’s border with Poland, Polish aerial forces were scrambled during the attack.

Reuters reports that Polish and allied aircraft were scrambled for the third time in eight days to closely monitor the inbound projectiles, and were ready to intercept them in the event the missiles approached Polish airspace.

The incident shows how easily NATO aircraft could jump into the fight against Russian airpower on Ukraine’s behalf. Warsaw has complained of recent airspace violations by Russian projectiles, including a drone that went down in its territory on Aug.26.

Earlier this week Poland’s foreign minister sparked fresh controversy within the NATO military alliance by saying that member states have a ‘duty’ to shoot down incoming Russian missiles when they are in Ukraine’s skies threatening the population below.

“Membership in Nato does not trump each country’s responsibility for the protection of its own airspace – it’s our own constitutional duty,” FM Radosław Sikorski told the Financial Times. The comments showed little concern over the possibility that such action risks major escalation with Russia.

“I’m personally of the view that, when hostile missiles are on course of entering our airspace, it would be legitimate self-defense [to strike them] because once they do cross into our airspace, the risk of debris injuring someone is significant,” the Polish top diplomat had said.

Without doubt, Poland constitutes ground zero for NATO’s ‘eastern flank’ and has been engaged in a massive defense spending drive and military build-up since the Feb.2022 Russian invasion began. 

Below are some stats and recent defense spending developments via Al Jazeera:

• On Tuesday, Warsaw announced new military deals worth $520m, the latest move in a drive to beef up its defence prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
• Poland currently spends 4 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense – the highest ratio of any NATO member – and hopes to boost the number to 4.7 percent next year.
• Last month, Warsaw signed a $10bn deal to buy 96 Apache attack helicopters from US manufacturer Boeing. They will replace outdated Russian Mi-24 helicopters.
• Warsaw has also announced a deal to buy hundreds of AIM-120C AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, as well as a contract for 48 launchers for US-designed Patriot air defence systems.
• Poland’s army has 200,000 soldiers, making it NATO’s third largest after the United States and Turkey, and the biggest in the European Union.

As for Poland’s push to get NATO leadership to sign on to new rules of engagement regarding Russian strikes, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who is soon expected to retire from the top post, has issued some pushback.

Prior Russian aerial assaults have targeted a military base just tens of kilometers from the Polish border…

Stoltenberg rejected the Polish proposal and asserted that it presents too much risk of NATO “becoming part of the conflict.” Of course, at this point this seems to be exactly what Zelensky wants–to drag the West deeper into the war on Ukraine’s behalf.