Фото: канцелярия премьер-министра Польши
Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, said it is most likely that a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile crashed in Poland. Earlier, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said a missile of this type had entered Polish airspace.
“The relevant services, first and foremost the military, including our pilots and aircraft, responded very quickly and effectively,” Tusk said.
He stressed that although the missile crashed, the Polish military had been prepared to shoot it down had it continued flying deeper into Polish territory.
“So far, everything indicates that we are dealing with a Russian Kh-101 missile, but we do not want to pre-empt the results of the detailed investigation. We want to be 100% certain what type of missile it was, who launched it, and whether the warhead detonated or the explosion resulted from the impact,” the prime minister added.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said that more than 20 objects detected in Ukrainian airspace could have posed a potential threat to Poland. According to him, Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jets were also operating near the border in coordination with their Polish counterparts. He added that NATO allies had been informed of the incident.
Earlier overnight, the Polish military scrambled an F-16 fighter jet to intercept an unidentified object that had entered the country’s airspace. However, the object disappeared from radar before visual contact could be established. A helicopter was dispatched to the suspected crash site. Later, a 10-metre crater and fragments of an unidentified object were discovered in an undeveloped area near the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia, about 90 km from the border with Ukraine. Local residents reported hearing a powerful explosion during the night.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia used 61 Kh-101 cruise missiles in today’s attack. Ukrainian air defences intercepted 54 of them, while two cruise missiles were reported to have reached their targets.
The Kh-101 is a Russian air-launched strategic cruise missile with a maximum range of 2,500-2,800 km. It entered service in 2013. The missile carries a warhead weighing about 400 kg and approximately 1.25 tonnes of fuel. It has a maximum speed of about 0.78 Mach and can be equipped with high-explosive fragmentation, high-explosive or cluster warheads.