Poland Missile Crash Near Lublin Raises Alarm

A missile crash near Lublin has triggered fresh concern in Poland after Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the object that hit a field in eastern Poland was, in all probability, a Russian cruise missile. The impact left a 10m-wide crater near the village of Tarnawa Kolonia, about 92km from the border with Ukraine, during a major Russian attack on Ukrainian cities.

Tusk said the missile had armed warheads and that early indications pointed to a Russian Kh-101. He made those comments at a specially arranged meeting in Lublin, then later visited the scene and said military experts believed most of the recovered fragments supported that conclusion. No casualties were reported near Tarnawa Kolonia, but the prime minister said the incident was being treated with full seriousness.

Poland’s leader said there was no immediate danger because the object did not come down in a populated area. Even so, he added that Polish forces were ready to shoot it down if it had stayed on its path. Nato said it was in close contact with Polish authorities, while Supreme Allied Commander in Europe Gen Alexus G Grynkewich said the alliance would continue taking whatever steps were needed to defend Nato territory.

Poland’s defence minister, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, said roughly 20 objects were seen near Polish airspace overnight and that pyrotechnical analysis was under way. Ukraine’s acting foreign minister, Andriy Sybiha, went further and said the Kh-101 had crossed into Poland as part of Russia’s large-scale strike on Ukraine, calling it a violation of Nato airspace. European Council President António Costa also pointed to Russia’s combined assault on Ukraine as proof that Moscow’s aggression threatens security more broadly.