Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said shielding Ukraine from Russian drone attacks would protect the rest of Europe, too, amid concerns over the war’s spread.
By Kate Brady and David L. Stern
September 15, 2025
The Washington Post
BERLIN — Poland’s foreign minister called on NATO countries to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine to protect Europe from Russian strikes amid the continuing fallout over the drone incursion into Poland last week, which prompted the U.S.-led alliance to scramble fighter jets.
In remarks published Monday, the foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, told the German news outlet Frankfurter Allgemeiner that the idea was broached a year ago with the Biden administration but that it could not be carried out just by Poland, and would need the support of other European allies. “We as NATO and the E.U. could be capable of doing this, but it is not a decision that Poland can make alone; it can only be made with its allies,” he said. “Protection for our population — for example, from falling debris — would naturally be greater if we could combat drones and other flying objects beyond our national territory.” “If Ukraine were to ask us to shoot them down over its territory, that would be advantageous for us. If you ask me personally, we should consider it,” he added.
The United States and its major allies in NATO, including Britain, have previously rejected requests by Ukraine for a no-fly zone because of the high risk of direct combat with Russian aircraft, and there has been no indication that President Donald Trump is considering such a step — especially without Russia agreeing to a ceasefire.
In recent discussions with European allies about providing postwar security guarantees for Ukraine, Trump has been adamant that no U.S. forces would be sent to Ukraine.
On Wednesday, NATO fighter jets and air defenses shot down Russian drones that entered Polish airspace as Russia was bombarding targets in Ukraine.
The incident raised serious questions about the alliance’s readiness to counter the relatively cheap, highly maneuverable but devastatingly destructive unmanned aerial vehicles that have redefined modern warfare since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Polish officials said that there were 19 violations and that at least three drones were shot down. The drones appear to have been unarmed decoys, often used to distract air defenses. The falling debris, however, still caused damage.
Some experts and analysts noted that it was impractical and unsustainable for NATO to rely on exorbitantly expensive fighter jets and missiles in such circumstances. NATO officials have insisted that the incident showed they are prepared to defend “every inch” of allied territory.
European officials have since described the incursion as a Russian test of NATO defenses, though Trump later said “it could have been a mistake.” Polish officials, including Sikorski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk, rebutted that suggestion.
On Saturday, Romania scrambled fighter jets after a Russian drone breached its airspace during an attack on neighboring Ukraine. Fragments of Russian drones have fallen into Romania repeatedly during the course of the war.
Russia has rejected calls by Trump for a ceasefire. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Russia was still interested in resolving the war through “political and diplomatic means” but said that “the Europeans are getting in the way.” “NATO is de facto at war with Russia. This is obvious and needs no proof. NATO provides direct and indirect support to the Kyiv regime,” Peskov added.
While professing its willingness to make a deal, Russia has demanded that Ukraine surrender huge swaths of land, including territory not occupied by Russian forces. Moscow also wants strict limits imposed on Ukraine’s military and assurance that Ukraine will never join NATO.
Russia has substantially ramped up its attacks on Ukraine’s cities this year, especially since the summer. Waves of drones have dominated these assaults, and Ukraine has called for more air defense systems from its Western backers.
At the beginning of Russia’s invasion nearly four years ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pushed hard for Kyiv’s Western allies to establish a no-fly zone over the country, as his forces lacked the air power to repel Moscow’s extensive bombardment of Ukrainian cities. “To establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine is to save people,” Zelensky said in a March 2022 video address to the U.S. Congress, one of many pleas he made at the time. “Humanitarian no-fly zone. Conditions under which Russia will no longer be able to terrorize our peaceful cities every day and night.”
President Joe Biden, however, refused to send U.S. planes and pilots into Ukrainian airspace, partly for fear of sparking a direct conflict with Russia, which has the world’s largest arsenal of nuclear weapons. European leaders supported Biden’s decision.
Ben Wallace, the British defense secretary at the time, told the BBC shortly after the conflict began that direct confrontation between Western and Russian fighter jets could trigger “a war across Europe.”
Last year, Kyiv officials floated the idea of Ukraine’s neighbors using antiaircraft systems to shoot down missiles and drones approaching their airspace, creating a no-fly zone over Western Ukraine. Again, that proposal was rejected.
Stern reported from Kyiv. Natalia Abbakumova in Riga, Latvia contributed to this report.
Kate Brady is a researcher and reporter based in The Washington Post’s Berlin bureau. She has been at The Post since early 2023 and has been reporting from Germany for the best part of a decade.follow on X@bradyinberlin
David L. Stern has worked for news outlets in Russia, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, the Middle East and Central Asia. He has lived in Ukraine since 2009, covering the 2014 Maidan revolution, war in the country’s east and now Russia’s 2022 invasion.follow on X@loydstern