In brief
In the early hours of Thursday, a 10‑meter‑wide crater appeared near the Polish village of Tarnawa Kolonia, an area 92 km from Ukraine’s border. President Donald Tusk announced that the crash was most likely a Russian Kh‑101 cruise missile, as part of Russia’s massive strike on Ukrainian cities. The missile, unarmed, did not cause casualties but prompted a swift Polish military response. NATO confirmed it is in close contact with Polish authorities, ready to defend allied territory. This incident underscores the ongoing spill‑over effects of the war in Ukraine.
A 10‑meter‑wide crater was discovered early Thursday near the village of Tarnawa Kolonia in eastern Poland, about 92 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that the object was most likely a Russian Kh‑101 cruise missile, describing it as “in all probability” a Russian missile that had violated Polish airspace during a large‑scale Russian attack on Ukrainian cities.
The missile, believed to be armed, landed in a field, causing no casualties. Polish authorities, led by Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak‑Kamysz, are conducting pyrotechnical analysis on recovered fragments.
Tusk stated that the incident was taken very seriously and that Polish forces were prepared to shoot it down had it continued its flight. NATO confirmed that it was in close contact with Polish officials and that the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe said the alliance would take “all necessary measures” to defend NATO territory.
This event follows a series of drone and missile incursions into Poland amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, with recent reports of Russian strikes leading to casualties in both Ukraine and Poland.
