A violent explosion that occurred after midnight in eastern Poland and the crater subsequently detected strengthened suspicions that a missile had fallen in the area. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, speaking after an emergency meeting, said, "All indications point to the fallen object being a Russian-made Kh-101 ballistic missile. However, we want to be 100 percent sure about the type of missile and who launched it."
Tusk added that the missile did not pose a direct threat because it fell in a deserted area, but they were ready to shoot it down if it had continued its flight. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha had earlier claimed on social media platform X that a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile entered Polish airspace.
The Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces announced that an unidentified object moving west was detected on radars around 03:40 and disappeared shortly after. An Mi-24 helicopter dispatched to the area identified a possible impact point in a deserted area near the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia in the Lublin region.
The Interior Ministry announced that the object left a crater approximately 10 meters wide. According to local authorities, the crater is located 2 kilometers from the nearest settlement. Lublin police reported that they arrived at the scene after a report of a loud explosion sound from Bilgoraj county and identified the crater and scattered debris.
After the incident, sirens sounded in Lublin for several minutes, warning of possible Russian attacks. Poland had scrambled fighter jets after Russian airstrikes that extended as far as the city of Lviv in western Ukraine and killed at least 8 people. The Russian Embassy in Warsaw has not yet responded to a request for comment on the matter.
