Poland suppose that fragments of a missile from their MiG-29 could have been found in forest
The wreckage of an alleged Russian air-to-ground missile found in the forest near Bydgoszcz (northern Poland) was probably of Polish origin.
This opinion was expressed by Polish retired general Waldemar Skrzyczak in a comment to Ukrinform's own correspondent.
"Poland bought missiles from Russia in the 1990s and 2000s for its MiG-29s. And it could have been a Polish missile that was purchased then. However, missiles cannot be painted over, so Cyrillic inscriptions could have remained there," Skrzyczak said, cautioning that he does not know all the nuances of this discovery.
Another retired Polish general, Roman Polko, expressed a similar opinion in a commentary to RMF24. According to him, the missile could, for example, have fallen off the plane during a training exercise of Polish MiG-29s. The Polish expert was also not surprised by the Cyrillic inscriptions on the missile wreckage, as the Polish army still has many post-Soviet weapons in service.
As the agency reported, according to the Ministry of National Defense of Poland, elements of a military facility were found in a forest belt near the city of Bydgoszcz (northern Poland). Polish Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro emphasized that the military department of the District Prosecutor's Office in Gdansk, under the supervision of the National Prosecutor's Office of Poland, opened a case regarding the remains of an aerial military object found in the forest near Bydgoszcz. The forest, where the unknown military object was found, has been surrounded by the military, and no one is allowed to enter.
According to unofficial data from RMF24, an air-to-ground missile fell in the forest. It was discovered on April 25, but it could have fallen even earlier, even a few days or weeks earlier. As noted, at first the Polish military believed that it was a drone, but then came to the conclusion that it could be missile elements. The wreckage has inscriptions in Russian. It is not yet known whether it exploded. It is known that there is a large hole in the ground around the object's crash site, like after a bomb explosion.
Poland is gradually handing over its MiG-29 aircraft to Ukraine, expecting them to be replaced by South Korean FA-50s and American F-35s. In early April, answering a question from Ukrinform, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that Poland had already handed over or is handing over eight aircraft of this type to Ukraine and is preparing to hand over six more.
In November 2022, an explosion killed two people in the Polish village of Przewodów, Hrubieszów County, Lublin Voivodeship, near the Ukrainian border.
Later, Warsaw confirmed that the explosion was caused by a Russian-made missile, and the Russian ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry.
Later, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that a Ukrainian missile fell in Poland while trying to defend itself against a Russian attack, but that Ukraine was not to blame, as it was defending itself against a massive Russian attack.