A Russian cruise missile fired at towns in western Ukraine breached Polish airspace, Poland's army said Sunday.
For about 40 seconds, "Polish airspace was breached by one of the cruise missiles fired in the night by the air forces... of the Russian Federation," the army wrote on social media platform X.
"The object flew through Polish airspace above the village of Oserdow (Lublin province) and stayed for 39 seconds," added the statement.
The army said that the missile was tracked by military radar throughout its flight.
"The Polish army is constantly monitoring the situation on Ukrainian territory and remains on permanent alert to ensure the security of Polish airspace," said the army.
Poland activated its air defence procedures and scrambled its F-16 fighter jets during the missile strike during the incident, the operational command of the armed forces said in its statement.
Dowództwo Operacyjne RSZ obserwuje dzisiejszej nocy intensywną aktywność lotnictwa dalekiego zasięgu Federacji Rosyjskiej, związaną z uderzeniami lotniczo-rakietowymi na obiekty znajdujące się na terytorium Ukrainy.
— Dowództwo Operacyjne (@DowOperSZ) March 24, 2024
Wszystkie niezbędne procedury mające na celu zapewnienia… pic.twitter.com/hnhbaxanVc
A similar incident occurred on Dec. 29, 2023, when a Russian missile penetrated Polish airspace for several minutes before returning to Ukraine.
In November 2022, two people were killed when a Ukrainian air-defence missile fell on the Polish village of Przewodow, close to the Ukrainian border.
Before the missile was identified as Ukrainian, fears were raised that NATO – of which Poland is a member – would be dragged into an escalation of the conflict with Russia if its collective defence provisions were triggered.
You can also highlight the text and press Ctrl + Enter
Comments (4)
The Polish Armed Force have now explained that they did not shoot down the trespassing Russian missile out of concern that doing so would have put civilians at risk from falling debris from both the target and the interceptor. This sounds quite reasonable to me. I also think it is quite respectful of them to have taken the time to explain this to Ukrainians and their supporters around the world. I do hope, though, that Poland can assert against Moscow a greater threat than repeated demands for an explanation to deter Moscow from continuing to use Polish airspace rent-free as a means of obtaining a tactical advantage over Ukraine's missile defences.
So a russian missile flew through a NATO members airspace for 4o seconds and they didn't even fire at it? Why?
Was it technically impossible for them to shoot it down?
If not, do NATO allies realize their failure to do so essentially condones future russian military use of our airspace to attack our tax payer funded ally Ukraine?
Just the absurdity of this makes me think some allied leadership is asleep at the wheel. Get with the game allies. It's called war.
There is no legal or moral reason to not shoot down a russian missile in NATO allied air space (or for that matter Ukraines air space).
Polish people I thank you for your overall ongoing support to Ukraine.
However. either your air command or policy makers are looking vary much like chick shit idiots. Hold them accountable...possible firings, no bonuses, lumps of coal in their stockings....the whole shebang!
Their handling of this event been a huge blunder and those responsible must be held accountable.
@John, Maybe we need to help Ukraine? sure, but not too much! The more time passes, the more evident it seems that this is the West's strategy. the question is, why?
@John, the Polish Armed Forces have now explained that they did not shoot down the trespassing Russian missile out of concern that doing so would risk civilians living under the falling debris from both the target and the interceptor. I think this is a quite reasonable explanation. I also think it is quite respectful of them to have taken the time to explain this to Ukrainians and their supporters around the world. I do hope, though, that Poland can assert against Moscow a greater threat than repeated demands for an explanation to deter Moscow from continuing to use Polish airspace rent-free as a means of obtaining a tactical advantage over Ukraine's missile defences.
@Michael, I guess I could see them thinking this if its flight path was over populated areas and the timing made it likely casualties would result. Did they confirm this as well? Regardless it does nothing to stop a probably worse fate for Ukrainian civilians on the receiving end with their growingly depleted air defence. I guess by similar justification we can expect to see more of the same. I suppose that also makes it fair game for Ukraine to send its missiles over Poland to surprise russia.
I guess I'm getting a bit of a chip on my shoulder watching NATO dance around every legitimate and moral opportunity they have had to directly defend a fellow democracy. They keep saying Article 5 has not been triggered yet. Then russia targets an international cargo ship in international waters, fires a missile at a British fighter on patrol in international airspace, threatens to shoot down a French plane over international water, crashes an expensive US reaper drone in international airspace, blows up a dam threatening neighbouring ecosystems, puts the EU at nuclear risk from nuclear plant mismanagement and mining, assassinates people within our borders, fires armed drones into Moldova (albeit not yet a NATO member).....and now fires a armed missile across polish airspace. Lets not forget the hybrid war putin wages against all democracies the last few decades.
I mean come on already NATO. The red lines been crossed, and crossed and crossed.
@John, I'm with you in having lost patience with NATO due to its timidity in standing up to a constant stream of outrageous Russian provocations and - even worse - violations of international law against aggression, war crimes and crimes against humanity. I can't think what Poland can threaten Russia with in the event of any future Russian missiles being fired into/across/through NATO territory aside from shooting them down, so I hope that is exactly what Poland will now threaten to Russia. If they have a better idea than this, I hope they are threatening Russia with that. Personally, though, I think the biggest backstabber against Ukraine has been Mike 'Moscow' Johnson. Despicable of him to burn Ukrainians as a means of trying to score a purely domestic US political victory.
this is the second time this has happened, why didn't Poland shoot down the missile? Why?
If Poland knew this Russian missile's trajectory and had scrambled its F-16's, why did they not shoot down that missile while it was within Polish airspace? It would not have been provocative towards Russia, given the Russian missile was where it wasn't supposed to be in the first place. Therefore, there would have been no reasonable risk of escalation. I hope the Poles didn't take the view that destructive missiles slamming into innocent civilians in Ukraine are none of their business, so they just let it through.