Poland investigates missile crash after Russian attack on Ukraine
A missile believed to be fired by Russia landed deep inside Poland early Thursday as Moscow launched a large missile-and-drone attack across Ukraine, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
Polish officials said the object came down in an undeveloped field near Tarnawa-Kolonia in Lublin province, roughly 55 miles from the Ukrainian border. Authorities said the explosion left a large crater, and police said nearby residents reported hearing a powerful blast.
Tusk said “all indications” suggest the object was a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile. He said Poland was prepared to shoot it down if it had continued flying, and that NATO commanders were being kept informed.
“During the Russian massive missile attack on western Ukraine, a violation of Polish airspace occurred,” Tusk said in a post on X.
Poland had scrambled fighter jets during the Russian attack. The Polish military said its air defenses observed at least a dozen missiles over western Ukraine that posed a potential threat to Polish airspace. Polish armed forces are now investigating how the object entered Polish territory and crashed.
If confirmed as a Russian missile, the crash would mark a serious airspace violation deep inside Poland, a NATO member, and renew concerns about the war spilling across the alliance’s border. Poland has routinely scrambled jets in response to Russian attacks on western Ukraine, but missiles and drones have rarely entered its territory.
A larger attack on Ukraine
The incident came during a widespread Russian assault on Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia used more than 70 missiles and more than 280 attack drones. He said Ukrainian forces intercepted more than 260 drones, despite what he called a “critical shortage” of air defense missiles from Ukraine’s partners.
The attacks killed at least eight people across Ukraine, including children, according to local authorities cited by CNN. Another report put the death toll at at least 13.
In the village of Radushne, near Kryvyi Rih in southern Ukraine, Zelenskyy said a ballistic missile destroyed a family home, killing two parents and three children. Two more children were pulled alive from the rubble, he said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it carried out a “massive strike” using long-range precision weapons and attack drones on military sites across Ukraine.
The attack followed Zelenskyy’s visit to the White House, where he asked President Donald Trump to provide Ukraine with additional air defense systems.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
