The Polish Army on Friday (Dec 29) claimed that a Russian missile passed through the country’s airspace as Moscow launched its biggest aerial attack on Ukraine since the war began in February last year.
General Wieslaw Kukula, chief of the general staff of the Polish armed forces confirmed that the missile briefly entered the Polish airspace before getting redirected towards Ukraine.
“Everything indicates that a Russian missile entered Polish airspace. It also left our airspace. We have national and allied radar confirmation,” Kukula told reporters.
Although the missile was in Polish airspace for only three minutes, it was sufficient for the army to raise its defence preparedness. According to armed forces spokesman Jacek Goryszewski, the jets were scrambled in the direction of the missile in response to the violation of the airspace.
“We sent our forces, fighter jets, to intercept it and shoot it down if necessary but the duration and the flight path… made this impossible and allowed the missile to leave Polish territory,” said Maciej Klisz, the operational commander of the Polish army.
According to Klisz, the Polish air defence systems were put on alert soon after Russia launched a mega drone and missile onslaught on Ukraine, earlier in the day.
After the intrusion, Polish President Andrzej Duda dialled NATO chief Jen Stoltenberg and had a conversation over the incident.
Notably, in November 2022, a Ukrainian air defence missile fell in the Polish village of Przewodow near the border, killing two civilians.
