Polish government calls emergency meeting
President Duda: “There is currently no threat”
The Polish military said that an unidentified object disappeared from radar after entering Polish airspace from the direction of Ukraine on the morning of the 29th (local time), and all signs pointed to it being a Russian missile, the Associated Press reported.
“Everything indicates that Russian missiles have violated Polish airspace,” said Wisław Cuckoo, commander-in-chief of the Polish Armed Forces. It was monitored by us with radar and left our airspace. “This has been confirmed by NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) radar and allies,” he said.
The Polish military said the object entered its airspace for about 40km and left in less than three minutes. The Polish military said its radar and NATO radar confirmed that the object had left Polish airspace.
Commander-in-Chief Kukuwa said steps are being taken to verify these findings and eliminate the possibility of technical errors. There was no comment from Russian officials on this.
Previously, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on .
It is not immediately clear where the object disappeared from radar or which direction it was heading. Polish troops were mobilized to identify and search for the unidentified object, the AP reported, and there were no immediate reports of explosions or casualties.
Krzysztof Komorski, governor of Poland’s eastern Lublin region, told Polish portal Onet that “an unidentified object appeared on radar near the Khrubiezow region, which is close to the border with Ukraine.” “There is no information to indicate that it fell in Lublin Oblast,” Governor Komorski added.
Poland is a member of the European Union (EU) and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). For this reason, the border between Ukraine and Poland is also the border between Ukraine and the EU and NATO.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk held talks with the defense minister, military commanders, and heads of the national security apparatus, and then convened a meeting of the National Security Agency with President Andrzej Duda, the commander-in-chief of the Polish military.
“There is currently no threat,” Duda said through an aide. “You shouldn’t expect anything bad,” he said. “The most important thing is that no one was hurt.”
Ukrainian officials said on the 29th that Russia launched more than 100 missiles and dozens of drones against Ukrainian targets overnight, carrying out the largest aerial attack since the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
It was not clear whether the unidentified object reported by Poland was related to this airstrike.
“As a result of such a large-scale attack, something like this could happen,” said Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuri Inat. The enemy is attacking our border areas, including the west. “This is another signal to our partners to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense,” he said on Ukrainian state TV about the incident.
Poland has supported Ukraine with military, humanitarian and political support.
This is not the first time that unauthorized objects have entered Polish airspace from the direction of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
In November 2022, a missile struck the village of Przewodou, a few kilometers from the border, killing two men. Western officials said they believed a Ukrainian air defense missile launched to intercept a Russian missile had “gone astray.”
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.