Poland seeks to ditch NATO, EU approval to down objects over Ukraine
Warsaw is moving to give its military the green light to shoot down Russian drones over Ukraine without waiting for NATO or EU approval, in a bid to reclaim rapid-response powers stripped under a 2022 law
WARSAW – Poland is preparing to amend its law on military deployments abroad to allow its forces to shoot down Russian objects, such as drones, over Ukraine without prior NATO or EU approval.
The draft, submitted by the defence ministry in June, is expected to be fast-tracked, Gazeta Wyborcza reports.
The law originally let the president authorise deployments at the government’s request in cases such as armed conflict, peacekeeping, counterterrorism or evacuations. But in 2022 – a day before Russia’s full-scale invasion – the PiS government amended it to require approval from NATO, the EU and the foreign country where Polish forces would operate. The commission for investigating Russian influence later criticised the change, saying it stripped Warsaw of the right to act independently against drones crossing from Ukraine or Belarus.
The current ruling coalition plans to scrap those limits under a “shoot first, ask later” principle, giving the military more flexibility to respond to threats. According to Gazeta Wyborcza, the draft amendment, submitted by the defense ministry in June, is expected to be fast-tracked.
Poland shot down suspected Russian drones that entered its airspace earlier in September, the first time a NATO member has fired on Russian assets during the conflict.
