Warsaw accuses Moscow after a missile falls in Poland

Warsaw accused Moscow of being behind the firing of a missile that crashed in Poland, without causing any injuries, during massive strikes carried out on Ukraine on Wednesday night into Thursday.

A powerful explosion woke up residents of the town of Tarnawa-Kolonia, located in the Lublin region (east), shortly before 04:00 (02:00 GMT), causing the windows of their homes to shake.

The impact site is located approximately 80 kilometers from the Ukrainian border and the Lviv region, which was the target of Russian strikes at the same time.

Alerted, the local police announced that they had discovered "in a field, about two kilometers from the houses, a crater" ten meters in diameter and five meters deep, as well as "debris of an unidentified object" scattered within a radius of 200 meters.

The Armed Forces Operational Command, for its part, states that a Mi-24 helicopter deployed during the night located, in the same place, "the probable impact site of the object in an undeveloped area".

Prime Minister Donald Tusk arrived in Lublin in the morning to chair a crisis meeting with Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz and Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski.

An investigation has been opened by the military prosecutor's office to determine the origin and nature of the projectile. But for Donald Tusk, "the recovered fragments indicate that it is a Russian Kh-101 missile."

"There is no reason to think that Poland was the target," he said at a press conference.

'Millennial enemy'

The Ukrainian foreign minister also considered it to be "a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile" whose intrusion into Poland constitutes "a violation of NATO airspace", of which Poland is a member.

This intrusion "reminds us that there is nothing more urgent for our two countries than to counter our common, age-old enemy, which represents a direct threat to both our nations," Andriy Sybiga said on his X account.

A Polish F-16 fighter jet took off after the missile was detected but lost track of it, authorities initially suggested. Mr. Tusk, however, asserted that Polish air defenses would have been able to shoot it down had it deviated from its trajectory and headed toward populated areas.

European Council President Antonio Costa denounced new "massive" strikes carried out overnight in Ukraine by Russia and the "violation of Polish airspace".

In a message on X addressed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Mr. Tusk, French President Emmanuel Macron condemned "in the strongest possible terms the Russian strikes that killed civilians in Ukraine, as well as the violation of Polish airspace."

"Our support for Ukraine and our allies will not waver," he assured.

Russia launched 74 missiles and 284 drones at Ukraine overnight, killing at least eight people.

In November 2022, a Ukrainian defense missile struck the Polish village of Przewodow, killing two people. And in September 2025, approximately twenty Russian drones that had entered Polish airspace were shot down or crashed.

Other EU and/or NATO member countries have experienced incursions by Russian drones and missiles since 2022, particularly Romania and Moldova.

AFP