"We were prepared to shoot down the missile if it had continued its flight. Everything indicates that it was a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile," Tusk said.
According to data from the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces, at 3:29 a.m., one of the aerial objects approached the Polish border to within a distance of about 5 km. It then changed course and flew eastward.
At 3:40 a.m., an unidentified object moving westward was detected in Polish airspace. An F-16 fighter jet on duty was dispatched to the area to identify and intercept it.
However, by 3:46 a.m., even before the object could be identified, it had disappeared from radar. To verify and definitively confirm the radar readings, a Mi-24 helicopter was dispatched to the area where the object was last detected.
The helicopter crew identified the probable crash site of the object in an undeveloped area near the village of Tarnava-Kolonia in the Lublin Voivodeship. A ground search-and-rescue team and other specialized services were dispatched to the area. Search and rescue operations are currently ongoing at the site.
Background to the Incident
Overnight, it was reported that an air raid alert had been issued in eastern Poland due to a Russian attack on western regions of Ukraine. Later, information emerged that one or two missiles may have briefly entered Polish airspace.
Later, in the Lublin Voivodeship, local residents heard loud explosions. Subsequently, a large crater was discovered in a field near the village of Tarnava-Kolonia, which likely formed after an unknown object fell.
