WARSAW: Poland said a drone had likely entered its airspace early on Monday morning during a Russian airstrike in Ukraine, adding that the object may have landed on Polish territory and that searches were underway.
Russia launched more than 100 missiles and around 100 attack drones at Ukraine during the morning rush hour on Monday, killing at least five people and targeting energy facilities across the country, officials said.
“It was most likely a drone and we assumed so, because the flight path and speed indicate it was definitely not a missile,” Jacek Goryszewski, spokesman for the Polish military's operational command, told Reuters.
“The object is being searched for by 100 soldiers on the ground and a helicopter.”
He said it was impossible to say whether the object was Russian or Ukrainian as weather conditions did not allow for visual identification.
In a later statement on social media platform X, the military's operational command said the object had entered Polish airspace at 0443 GMT and had been lost from radar sight at 0516 GMT.
“From the moment it entered Polish airspace, attempts were made to visually verify the object in order to identify it before its possible neutralization,” the statement said.
“Unfortunately, due to the prevailing weather conditions, it was not possible to clearly identify it, which prevented the decision to tear it down.”
Earlier, NATO member Poland said it had sent aircraft to the south of the country because of the attack on Ukraine.
Poland has been on high alert for objects entering its airspace since a stray Ukrainian missile struck the southern Polish village of Przewodow in 2022, killing two people.
In December 2023, Poland claimed that a Russian missile had entered its airspace. In April 2023, a military object was found in a forest near the village of Zamosc, close to the northern city of Bydgoszcz. It was later reported to be a Russian missile.
Also in March this year, Poland claimed that Russia had violated its airspace with a cruise missile launched at targets in western Ukraine.
Romania, another NATO member, has reported finding Russian drone fragments on its territory, most recently in July.
