A Russian missile entered the airspace of a NATO country, Poland, on Friday before leaving towards Ukraine, the target of a deadly wave of Russian attacks, Polish authorities said.
“Everything indicates that a Russian missile has entered Polish airspace. We detected it using radar. It immediately left Polish airspace,” on the way to Ukraine, said Chief of Staff of the Polish Army General Wieslaw Kukula.
“We have radar confirmations, both national and from our allies,” he added, quoted by the French agency AFP.
The Polish Army’s operational commander, General Maciej Klisz, said the missile flew over Polish airspace for three minutes, at a distance of about 40 kilometers.
“We sent our troops and planes to intercept and shoot him down if necessary, but time took [de sobrevoo] and the way he maneuvered (…) made this impossible and allowed the missile to leave Polish territory,” he stated.
According to Klisz, the Polish air defense system was put on alert on Thursday evening, after the wave of Russian attacks on Ukraine.
To avoid mistakes, ground searches were conducted at the location where the missile’s radio signal was lost, Army officials said.
After the incident Polish civil and military authorities held emergency meetings and President Andrzej Duda held talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Poland is a member of NATO and the European Union (EU).
In November 2022, a Ukrainian missile landed in the Polish village of Przewodow, about six kilometers from the border with Ukraine, killing two civilians.
The explosion occurred at a time when Russia was carrying out massive attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure across the country.
Until the cause was determined, the missile crash in the Polish village raised fears that NATO would be drawn into the conflict as Poland is protected by the Atlantic Alliance’s collective defense commitments.
Last Friday, Russia carried out what is believed to be the largest attack since it invaded Ukraine almost two years ago, killing 18 and wounding 132, according to a preliminary report.
Ukrainian authorities said Russia launched 122 missiles and 36 drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) at targets across Ukraine in an attack that lasted 18 hours.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have achieved “all objectives” planned during the intense attack launched at dawn.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 plunged Europe into what is considered the worst security crisis on the continent since World War II (1939-1945).
The number of civilian and military casualties is unknown, but several sources, including the UN, have warned it will be significant.
Ukraine launched a counter-offensive in the summer after receiving new weapons from Western allies, but has already acknowledged that the results were modest.
Source: DN
