Russian missile puts Poland on alert

Polish authorities accuse Moscow of invading its airspace during a large-scale attack on Ukraine. The NATO member country activates fighter planes on alert and demands explanations about the accident. Poland accused Russia this Sunday (24/03) of briefly invading Polish airspace with one of its missiles during a large-scale attack on Ukraine, taking Warsaw to activate its fighters on alert. The NATO member country also asked Moscow for explanations about what happened.

This was Russia’s third major missile attack against Ukrainians in just the past four days, and the second to also hit the capital Kiev. The head of the Kiev military administration, Serhiy Popko, said that Moscow used cruise missiles launched from Tu-95MS strategic bombers.

An air alert in the Ukrainian capital had been active for more than two hours as rockets entered Kiev in batches from the north. According to Popko, the attacks started from the Engels district, in the Saratov region, in western Russia. There were apparently no casualties or damage to the capital, the military chief added.

The Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces said in a statement that at 4:23 am (local time) there was a violation of Polish airspace by one of the cruise missiles launched by Russia.

The object flew near Oserdow, a village in an agricultural region near the border with Ukraine, and remained in Polish airspace for 39 seconds, according to the statement. It is unclear whether Russia’s intention was to invade Polish airspace. Cruise missiles can change their trajectory to evade air defense systems.

In an interview with a local newspaper, Henryk Zdyb, head of the village of Oserdow, said he saw the missile and made a hissing noise. “I saw an object moving rapidly in the sky. It was illuminated and flying very low over the border with Ukraine,” he said.

The fighters activated in response

Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz later said at a news conference that the Russian missile would be shot down if there was any indication that it was headed for a target in Poland.

Kosiniak-Kamysz also said that Polish authorities monitored the attack on Ukraine and were in contact with their Ukrainian counterparts. As part of a strategic response to the airspace invasion, Polish and NATO F-16 fighters were activated.

The minister added that the missile overran territory over a length of about one to two kilometers as it headed towards the region around Lviv in western Ukraine.

“Like last night’s missile attack [sábado] against Ukraine was one of the most intense since the beginning of Russian aggression, all strategic procedures were started on time and the object was monitored until it left Polish airspace,” Kosiniak said- Kamysz.

Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovyi confirmed on Telegram that around 20 missiles and seven drones were launched over the region. His city, the largest in western Ukraine, was not affected, he said.

Summoning of the ambassador

On the diplomatic front, the Polish Foreign Ministry said it would “demand explanations from the Russian Federation regarding yet another violation of the country’s airspace.”

“We especially ask the Russian Federation to stop terrorist air attacks against the inhabitants and territory of Ukraine, to put an end to the war and to resolve the country’s internal problems,” the statement adds.

Andrzej Szejna, deputy foreign minister, told broadcaster TVN24 that his department intends to summon the Russian ambassador to Poland and hand him a note of protest.

“War is near”

Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago, a series of intrusions into Polish airspace have occurred, sparking concern in the European Union (EU) and NATO member countries, and reminding citizens how war is coming.

“We must accept the fact that the war is taking place very close to us and we are part of the clash between the West and Russia,” commentator Artur Bartkiewicz wrote in the Rzeczpospolita newspaper on Sunday.

In 2022, two Poles were killed in a missile explosion that overran Polish territory near the border with Ukraine. Western officials said it was a Ukrainian air defense missile that missed its target, but they also blamed Russia for starting the war by forcing the Ukrainians to launch missiles in self-defense.

One person was killed and four others were injured in a Ukrainian rocket attack in Sevastopol on the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula on Saturday night, city governor Mikhail Razvozhaev said on his Telegram channel.

ek (DPA, AP, AFP)

Source: Terra

Rose

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