By Kuba Stezycki
TARNAWA-KOLONIA, Poland, July 30 (Reuters) – An object that came down in eastern Poland overnight appears to be a Russian missile, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday, after authorities found a crater and scattered debris in a field following reports of an explosion.
Poland scrambled fighter jets to secure its airspace after Russian airstrikes killed at least eight people in neighbouring Ukraine, including one in Kyiv, the capital, in attacks that extended as far as the western city of Lviv.
“All the indications are that it was a Russian Kh-101 ballistic missile, but we want to be 100% certain about the type of missile and who launched it,” Tusk told an emergency meeting.
“There was no direct threat because the missile landed in an uninhabited area; we were ready to shoot it down had it continued its flight,” he added.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha had said earlier in a post on X that a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile crossed into Poland. The Russian embassy in Warsaw did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
POLICE FIND CRATER AND DEBRIS
The operational command of Poland’s armed forces said earlier on X that “An unidentified object moving westward was detected in Polish airspace,” adding that it disappeared from radars soon after it was seen at 3:40 a.m. local time (0140 GMT).
A Mi-24 helicopter that went to the object’s last location to verify and confirm the radar data pinpointed the likely crash site, it added.
“A helicopter crew located the probable crash site of the object in an undeveloped area near the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia in Lublin province.”
The object left a crater about 10 m (33 ft) wide, the interior ministry added on X. According to local authorities, it was located in farmland about 2 km from residential buildings.
Police in the Lublin region said they received a report of a loud bang in Bilgoraj county, between the villages of Tarnawa-Kolonia and Biskupice.
“Officers discovered a crater and scattered debris from an unidentified object in a field located about 2 km (1.2 miles) from the nearest buildings, between the villages,” the police added on X.
Sirens sounded in Lublin for a few minutes to warn against possible Russian strikes, media said.
(Reporting by Kuba Stezycki, Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz and Anna Koper; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Hugh Lawson, Ros Russell and Kate Mayberry)
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