Warsaw said on Friday 'everything indicates' a Russian missile briefly entered its airspace from the direction of Ukraine.
ADVERTISEMENTThe Kremlin appears to have denied a Russian missile entered Polish airspace.
Speaking to Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti Saturday, Russia’s Charge d’Affaires in Poland, Andrei Ordash, said Moscow would not comment on the event until Warsaw gave evidence of an airspace violation.
“We will not give any explanations until we are presented with concrete evidence because these accusations are unsubstantiated,” he said.
On Friday, Poland’s defence forces said an unknown object entered the country’s airspace from the direction of Ukraine and then vanished off radars. They claimed all indications pointed to it being a Russian missile.
“Everything indicates that a Russian missile intruded in Poland’s airspace," said Poland’s defence chief, General Wiesław Kukuła.
Poland’s defence forces said the object penetrated about 40km into its airspace and left after less than three minutes. They said their own and NATO radar both confirmed that the object left Polish airspace.
Kukula said steps were being taken to verify those findings and eliminate the possibility of a technical error.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on X that he had spoken with Poland’s president about the “missile incident”.
He added the US-led military alliance was vigilant and monitoring the situation “as the facts are established.”
Polish troops were mobilised to try to identify and find it. There were no immediate reports of any explosion or casualties.
The governor of Lublin province in eastern Poland, Krzysztof Komorski, told the Onet news portal that the object appeared on radars near the town of Hrubieszow, where a border crossing with Ukraine is located.
Komorski said he had no information to indicate it landed in Lublin province.
Poland's border with Ukraine is also the European Union and NATO border with Ukraine.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk convened a meeting with the defence minister, military commanders and heads of national security bodies, followed by a meeting of the National Security Bureau with President Andrzej Duda, the supreme commander of Poland’s armed forces.
Duda said through an aide that there was “no threat at the moment" and nothing to suggest that ”anything bad" should be expected.
“The most important is that no one was hurt," said the aide, Grazyna Ignaczak-Bandych.
Earlier on Friday, Ukrainian officials said Russia launched more than 100 missiles and dozens of drones against Ukrainian targets overnight in what an air force official called the biggest aerial barrage since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
It was not clear whether the object that Poland reported was related to the barrage.
ADVERTISEMENT“As a result of such massive attacks, this can happen. The enemy is attacking our border territories, including in the west. This is another signal for our partners to strengthen the Ukrainian air defence," Yurii Ihnat, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Air Force, said on national television about the incident.
Poland has been supporting Ukraine with military, humanitarian and political assistance.
This is not the first time an unauthorised object has entered Poland's airspace from the direction of Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion.
In November 2022, two men were killed when a missile struck the village of Przewodow, a few kilometres from the border. Western officials said they believed a Ukrainian air defence missile went astray.