NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he spoke with Poland’s president about indications that a Russian missile entered Polish airspace on December 29 during a barrage of Russian missiles and drones fired at Ukraine.
Stoltenberg said he consulted with President Andrzej Duda about the “missile incident” and said on X, formerly Twitter, that NATO “is monitoring the situation & we will remain in contact as the facts are established.”
Poland’s defense forces said earlier that an unknown object had entered Polish airspace from the direction of Ukraine and then vanished off radar.
“Everything indicates that a Russian missile intruded in Poland’s airspace. It was monitored by us on radars and left the airspace. We have confirmation of this on radars and from allies” in NATO, Poland’s armed forces chief, General Wiesław Kukuła, said.
Poland’s defense forces said the object penetrated about 40 kilometers into its airspace and left after less than three minutes. The defense forces said both its radar and NATO radar confirmed that the object left Polish airspace.
Kukula said steps were being taken to verify those findings and eliminate the possibility of a technical error.
Poland summoned the Russian charge d’affaires and demanded an explanation. Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency quoted the Russian charge d’affaires as saying that Poland provided no proof of a border violation.
U.S. national-security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke by phone with the head of Poland’s National Security Bureau, Jacek Siewiera, to express the “United States’ solidarity with Poland…as it deals with reports of a missile temporarily entering Polish airspace,” the White House said.
Sullivan expressed U.S. solidarity with Poland and pledged technical assistance as needed and assured Siewiera that President Joe Biden is following the incident closely.
It was not immediately clear where the object disappeared from radar or in which direction it had been going. Troops were mobilized to find it.
Ukrainian officials have said the aerial barrage was the biggest since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. (Radio Free Europe)