Poland’s president has spoken to the secretary general of the NATO alliance about Friday’s „incursion into Polish airspace,” which the Polish army said was a „stray Russian rocket,” fired as part of the Kremlin’s overnight air attack on Ukraine.
Polish President Andrzej Duda (right) and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (left).PAP/EPA/Toms Kalnins
Andrzej Duda held talks with NATO’s Jens Stoltenberg on Friday afternoon, private broadcaster Polsat News reported.
The president’s top aide Marcin Mastalerek said on the X social media platform that Duda and Stoltenberg had discussed an „incursion into Poland’s airspace.”
He stated that from the beginning, Poland „has been in continuous contact with our allies” over the incident, adding „Stronger Together.”
Earlier in the day, the president spoke to Prime Minister Donald Tusk and also convened a meeting at the presidential palace with Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, and Poland’s army chiefs.
Afterwards, Kosiniak-Kamysz said that Poland’s agencies had responded to the violation of Polish airspace „according to procedures” and that „Polish and allied systems have worked.”
The deputy prime minister also stressed „very good cooperation” between the president and the government, according to Polsat News.
Polish Army’s Operational Command said that on Friday morning an „unidentified air object has flown into Polish airspace from the direction of the Ukraine border, and was monitored by air defences until its signal died down.”
Military officials later said the „unidentified object” had flown into Polish airspace from the direction of Ukraine near the southeastern Polish city of Zamość.
They added that the incident „may be linked” to Russia’s massive air attack on Ukraine overnight into Friday.
Later in the day, Polish army officials said that „everything suggests” the „unidentified air object” was „one of the Russian rockets” fired on Ukraine, which „crossed the Polish border and then flew out of Polish airspace.”
Gen. Wiesław Kukuła, the Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, said the military had sent figther aircraft to „track the rocket and shoot it down if necessary,” Polsat News reported.
Russia on Friday morning fired 158 missiles against Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, Odesa and Lviv, killing at least twelve people and injuring 76, and also struck a critical infrastructure facility in the Lviv region which borders Poland, according to news outlets.
The defence ministry in Kyiv said it was Russia’s „most massive air attack” since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Friday is day 674 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
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Source: PAP, Polsat News