(Corrects number of people killed in Ukraine in paragraph two)
WARSAW, July 30 (Reuters) – A Russian cruise missile entered NATO-member Poland’s airspace overnight, Ukraine’s foreign minister said on Thursday, after Polish authorities found a crater and scattered debris in a field following reports of an explosion.
Poland scrambled fighter jets to secure its airspace after Russian airstrikes killed at least eight people in neighbouring Ukraine, including one in Kyiv, the capital, in attacks that extended as far as the western city of Lviv.
“Overnight, a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile crossed into Poland as part of Russia’s massive strike against Ukraine, violating NATO airspace,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.
Poland has not yet officially confirmed what the object was, saying only that investigations are ongoing. The Russian embassy in Warsaw did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
“An unidentified object moving westward was detected in Polish airspace,” the operational command of Poland’s armed forces said on X, adding that it disappeared from radars soon after the sighting at 3:40 a.m. local time (0140 GMT).
A Mi-24 helicopter that went to the object’s last location to verify and confirm the radar data pinpointed the likely crash site, it added.
“A helicopter crew located the probable crash site of the object in an undeveloped area near the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia in the Lublin province.”
The crater left was about 10 m (33 ft) wide, the interior ministry added on X. According to local authorities, it was located in farmland about 2 km from residential buildings.
Police in the Lublin region said they received a report of a loud bang in Biłgoraj county, between the villages of Tarnawa Kolonia and Biskupice.
“Officers discovered a crater and scattered debris from an unidentified object in a field located about 2 km (1.2 miles) from the nearest buildings, between the villages,” the police added on X.
Sirens sounded in Lublin for a few minutes to warn against possible Russian strikes, media said.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk was travelling to the scene, and he announced that he has established a special coordination team.
“An investigation is currently underway to determine what type of object fell near Tarnawa-Kolonia,” Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote on X.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz and Anna Koper; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Hugh Lawson and Ros Russell)
Comments