Poland sees airspace violation by Russian missile “deliberate" act
After Russia’s Kh-101 missile recently breached Polish airspace, the General Staff in Warsaw said the military believes the missile could have been deliberately programmed to fly along this particular route.
That’s according to the Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces Wiesław Kukula, who spoke with journalists on Monday, Ukrinform reports with reference to RMF24.
"Kh-101 is a well-known missile, it is the main strike element used against Ukraine today, and we can see the results. It was this type of missile," Kukula said.
He noted that two options are possible: operators deliberately programming the missile so that it violates Poland’s airspace, or the missile deviating from the specified flight route.
"Russian missiles have a relatively low accuracy, so any options are possible: both due to the missile being intentionally programmed this way (to violate Poland’s airspace - ed.), and it simply deviating from a certain programmed route," said the Chief of the General Staff.
He added that the latter option can also be taken into account, for example, due to the insignificant depth of the breach and the very short duration of stay over Poland.
Kukula also noted that targets that appear on the border of the two countries are always a very difficult dilemma in terms of engaging them, as the downing of a missile on one side can lead to unintended consequences on the other side of the border.
"And the same thing can happen when Ukraine fires at such a missile. The missile may fall on the territory of Poland and cause certain consequences. Therefore, today, first of all, we believe that this was to a large extent a deliberate action," said General Kukula.
As reported, on Sunday at 05:23 (Kyiv time) a Russian missile violated the airspace of Poland in the area of the settlement of Oserdów in the Lublin Voivodeship, where it flew for 39 seconds.
The Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces reported that the Russian missile had 100% left the airspace of Poland so there was no need to shoot it down while the relevant forces were monitoring the flight path.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland announced it would demand an explanation from the Russian Federation. Russia's ambassador to Poland, Serhiy Andreev, on Monday ignored a summons to the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in connection with the violation. Therefore, Poland will send a diplomatic note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia through another channel with a demand to explain the incident.
In the early hours of Sunday, March 24, Russia launched yet another massive missile and drone strike on Ukraine. Ukraine’s air defense forces destroyed 43 aerial targets: 18 out of the 29 cruise missiles and 25 out of the 28 Shahed kamikaze drones.