Polish police said on Thursday that they had found a crater approximately 10 m wide and debris from an unidentified object scattered across a field in the Lublin Voivodeship. Security forces are investigating the incident.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk visited the site and established a special coordination team. “All the indications are that it was a Russian Kh-101 ballistic missile, but we want to be 100% certain about the type of missile and who launched it”, Tusk told an emergency meeting.
“There is no reason to think the target was Poland”, he later said.
Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said investigators were seeking to establish what the object was and how it entered Polish territory.
Kyiv Reports NATO Airspace Breach
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha had earlier said that a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile crossed into Poland during a large-scale overnight attack on Ukraine, violating NATO airspace.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the incident on Thursday as another “unacceptable violation” of European Union airspace.
“To put an end to this, we are helping Ukraine win this war in every way we can. And we are building a robust European security architecture on land, at sea and in the air”, she wrote on X.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also condemned the Russian attacks. “Many civilians have once again lost their lives”, he wrote on X. Referring to the incident in eastern Poland, Merz added: “The impact in Poland also bears witness to Russian recklessness and willingness to escalate. We stand unwaveringly by our partners.”
Poland deployed fighter jets overnight to protect its airspace after Russian attacks killed at least 13 people in neighboring Ukraine, including one in Kyiv. The western city of Lviv, near the Polish border, was also hit.
NATO Responds to Missile Incursion
NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander General Alexus G. Grynkewich spoke with Poland’s Chief of Defense General Wieslaw Kukula on Thursday to discuss the response to a Russian missile crashing down on Polish territory, a spokesperson for NATO’s military headquarters said.
“NATO and Poland activated their air and ground defences” in response to the Russian missile entering Polish airspace, according to an emailed statement.
The incident remains under investigation.
Grynkewich “underlined that NATO will continue to take all necessary measures to defend NATO territory”, the spokesperson added.
Object Disappears from Radar
The Polish Armed Forces Operational Command said it detected an unidentified object moving westward through Polish airspace at 3:40 a.m. It disappeared from radar shortly afterwards.
The military sent a Mi-24 helicopter to the object’s last known location. Its crew found the probable crash site near the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia in the Lublin Voivodeship.
The Polish Interior Ministry said the crater was approximately 10 m wide. Local authorities said it lay on farmland about 2 km from the nearest residential buildings.
Police in the Lublin Voivodeship received a report of a loud explosion in Bilgoraj County, between the villages of Tarnawa-Kolonia and Biskupice. Officers subsequently found the crater and scattered debris.
Warning sirens also sounded for several minutes in Lublin during the Russian attack. Media reports said they had been activated as a precaution against a possible breach of Polish airspace.
(lud)