Ukraine has asked the US and NATO to ensure that its neighbouring countries in the bloc use NATO aircraft and air defence systems and shoot down only missiles and drones flying in their direction.
At a meeting with representatives of communities in Transcarpathian Region, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he had even agreed with the then NATO Secretary General to provide Poland with an air shield, like the Baltic States, so that it could transfer its fighter jets.
‘I went and agreed with the NATO Secretary General - it was Stoltenberg at the time - that Poland would receive a police mission: NATO aircraft. We really wanted to get MiGs from Poland, but they couldn't give us those MiGs because they didn't have enough of their own. We agreed with NATO that they would give them a police mission, like our Baltic friends. We agreed on this. Did Poland give us its aircraft? No. Was there another reason? Yes, there was,’ he said.
According to the President, this was not the first request for MiGs. At first, Ukraine asked the Polish to protect the gas storage facility in Stryy: to use their own forces to shoot down missiles and drones heading there. Poland agreed to do so on the condition of a NATO consensus, but there was none. Therefore, Ukraine asked the Poles to give us their MiG aircraft to defend the west of Ukraine.
Other countries have also not rallied around Poland to shoot down Russian missiles and drones.
‘What do we have? For example, without an allied ‘yes’, Romania could not say on its own: ‘We will shoot it down’. I understand President Johannes, he could not shoot down from his territory, because each of these neighbouring countries as NATO countries is afraid to make a decision and be alone in this decision,’ the president said.