Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that the Polish armed forces cannot shoot down Russian missiles or drones over Polish territory because it's difficult to immediately determine if they are not civilian objects.
@noelreports You could shoot them down over Ukraine, then you'd be sure...
@chebra @noelreports This the preferred solution. Poland is reluctant to do it on their own and would prefer it to be an official NATO thing. Despite Poland's pressure, other NATO countries keep saying "nooo, that's an escalation".
@elgregor But when the russian rocket is over Ukraine, Poland says it can't shoot it down because it's russian. And when it crosses the border into Poland, suddenly they are afraid to shoot it down because it might be civilian. How does this make any sense to you? Obviously the Polish explanation is bogus. It's not about other NATO countries - if an enemy aircraft enters Poland, they don't need any consensus of the whole NATO. Just shoot it down goddammit. Fucking Belarus is doing it.
@chebra Yes, the "NATO approval" thing is only for acting over Ukraine. Inside Poland problems are both legal (can't shoot down things in peacetime without a visual inspection) and practical (not enough planes and ground AA). There are talk about introducing an intermediate "crisis" level to allow shooting down things based only on radar. For the practical problem: F-35s are on order and more ground AA is also on order. And of course Poland keeps pushing NATO to allow shootdowns over Ukraine.
@elgregor You really sound like russian propaganda. In all of the cases you mentioned, it would have been rational and easier to increase help for Ukraine, it would make everybody safer. Being every man for himself and selfishly keeping the weapons unused at home is exactly what russia wants. All of your "problems" have a simple solution, but you rather believe that "oh it can't be done". Seriously, check what kremlin is saying, you'll find a lot of familiar statements there.