Ukraine war
Poland: Russian missile flies through Polish airspace
Poland’s Chief of General Staff Wieslaw Kukula speaks to journalists in Warsaw about the incident. photo
© Uncredited/AP/dpa
At the same time as Russia’s violent air strikes against Ukraine, a missile penetrates the airspace of NATO member Poland – and disappears. The incident brings back memories.
In the wake of Russia’s massive air strikes on the… According to the Polish army, a Russian missile in Ukraine violated the airspace of NATO member Poland. “Everything indicates that a Russian missile has entered Polish airspace. We tracked it on the radar and then left the airspace again,” said Chief of General Staff Wieslaw Kukula in Warsaw.
According to the information, the rocket was in Polish airspace for about three minutes and flew over 40 kilometers. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg emphasized that the defense alliance stands by its member Poland and remains vigilant.
On Friday, Russia delivered the heaviest air strikes on Ukraine since the start of the war. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, 158 missiles and combat drones were used. Among the targets attacked was the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, which is around 70 kilometers from the Polish border. Ukraine has been fending off a Russian invasion for more than 22 months.
Soldiers search for rubble
Poland’s chief of general staff said they had tracked the trajectory of most of the Russian missiles during the night. One then flew over the Ukrainian border with Poland. “We have instructed our aircraft to intercept them and shoot them down if necessary.” However, this was not possible because of the short time and the way the rocket flew. To be on the safe side, soldiers would still search for any debris on the ground along the flight path.
There was no exact information about where the flying object disappeared from the radar or in which direction it was flying. News channel TVN24 showed images of police and soldiers searching for rubble near the town of Zamosc in the southeast of the country. “The object was black, about one to two meters long and flew very low, lower than an airplane,” a resident of the village of Komarov-Osada told the Onet.pl portal. The mayor said there was no evidence yet that anything had fallen to the ground.
NATO and US President informed
Prime Minister Donald Tusk held a meeting with Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, the army general staff and intelligence chiefs. Polish President Andrzej Duda called a meeting of the National Security Office. He also informed NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg about the incident.
“NATO stands in solidarity with our valued ally, we are monitoring the situation and staying in touch while the facts are determined,” Stoltenberg wrote on the X platform, formerly Twitter.
Post Stoltenberg
The White House said national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke to his Polish counterpart Jacek Siewiera and offered technical assistance. US President Joe Biden is following the matter closely.
It is not the first time since hostilities began in Ukraine that flying objects have entered Polish airspace. In November 2022, a rocket hit a Polish village on the border with Ukraine, killing two civilians. The West assumes that it was a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile that was used to defend against Russian attacks.