A Russian cruise missile flew at a depth of 40 kilometers over Polish territory and returned to Ukraine.
On the morning of December 29, during a massive attack on Ukraine, Polish airspace in the Grubieszow region was violated by an unknown object. He was in the country for less than three minutes and returned to Ukraine.
How it happened that a Russian cruise missile flew 40 km into the territory of one of the NATO member countries and whether the country’s Armed Forces responded correctly to it is beyond the story.
“It’s a Russian missile”
The Polish media drew attention to the fact that traditionally, the first to report emergency events are not the Operational Command of the country’s Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense, but the officials of the Lublin Voivode and law enforcement service.
However, then the President of Poland called an urgent meeting of the National Security and Defense Council. In addition to Andrzej Duda, the meeting was attended by: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamisz, Chief of the General Staff General Wieslaw Kukula, Operational Commander of the Armed Forces General Maciej Klisz and Polish Ambassador to NATO Tomasz Szatkowski.
After the meeting, the Minister of National Defense confirmed that this morning a Russian cruise missile had violated Poland’s airspace and that the country’s air defense systems had apparently detected it immediately.
“I want to assure you that we have good coordination and cooperation. All actions are performed according to the behavior algorithm in such situations“, assured the head of the Ministry of Defense, adding that now Polish and similar units of air defense systems are involved.
“All elements related to the security of Poland, the activities of the Polish Army and civilian control over the army and the exchange of information worked better,” he emphasized.
Approach with caution
After Władysław Kosiniak-Kamisz, General Wiesław Kukula, Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army, spoke. He said the evidence indicates that the Russian missile entered Polish airspace and then left it.
“We have national and allied radar evidence of this,” he said.
“On the other hand, this is just a technique, we approached it with caution, so we decided to try it on the ground as well. We sent teams to check the confirmed missile trajectory to see if there was a technical errorKukula added.
At the same time, the general noted that this is a difficult night for Ukraine.
“The combined, heavy strike is intended to overload their air defenses…which Ukraine has been quite successful in. We have been tracking the flight paths of most of these missiles and have had information about the size and direction of their movement. In this case, one of these missiles, as I have already mentioned, crossed the Polish border and then left him,” he said.
The rocket maneuvered and flew 40 km
After the meeting, in a conversation with journalists, the operational commander of the Armed Forces, General Maciej Klisz, also said that at about 7:00 local time “Polish airspace was violated.”
“The systems at my disposal as an operational commander worked. This night was difficult for Ukraine, it was a tense night for all elements of the Polish air defense system“, said Klisch.
He added that both national and allied ground and air defense forces “are being activated as planned.”
“The entire trajectory of the object’s flight over the territory of Poland is monitored on the radar system,” he stressed, noting that everything involved is based on previous experience.
“The object was in Polish airspace for less than three minutes and left our airspace. We have about 40 kilometers of airspace violations“, explained the commander.
At the same time, he admitted that the missile was maneuvering in Polish airspace.
“As the operational commander, I made no decisions on this facility. We sent forces – planes that should intercept him if necessary. However, both missiles were in Poland and the way it maneuvered made it impossible to complete this task, which is why it was able to leave Poland,” added the Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army.
Does Poland’s air defense pass the test?
Polish military analyst Juliusz Sabak in his column answered questions from Poles about whether the military did enough work and why the air defense forces did not shoot down the missile. The expert explained that Poland acted according to peacetime norms, that is, the matter was only monitored.
“The answer to this question is that the system works according to its capabilities and the current situation… Actions in these conditions must be carried out in accordance with the procedure, and according to the information we have, this happened,” explained Sabak.
In the event of such an event, he said, the course of action is clearly defined: the information goes to the Air Operations Center (COP), which, in other words, is the brain of aviation and air defense throughout Poland. He commanded not only the Polish forces, but also the allied forces operating in Poland. There they make a possible decision to put so-called on-duty personnel on the air around the clock. It happened today: two Polish F-16s took off, as well as the “allied duty pair”.
However, all information and decisions are coordinated with the NATO Joint Air Command at Ramstein in Germany.
“Any decision, especially the decision to fire, must be made collectively and according to procedure. Why? Because we are not at war, and any such event could have both military and political consequences. This unknown object could be, for example, a civil aircraft with a broken radio or navigation problems,” added Sabak.
In terms of a military incident, the analyst believes it was as safe as possible, especially considering that it lasted less than three minutes. At the same time, he said, the situation is not perfect.
“In fact, there are no anti-aircraft systems in this area that could remove this object if it threatens the safety of citizens. This must be remembered and we must continue to strengthen the security of the border territories of Ukraine. Especially now, when Russia starts an intensive campaign of airstrikes against Ukraine,” the expert said.
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.