Stoltenberg: "NATO is monitoring the situation" – Russian missile flew into Poland (video)

The Polish General Staff said that the country’s airspace was violated by a Russian missile on Friday, January 29.

How reports Polish agency RAR, a Russian missile violated Polish airspace at about 7:00 a.m. local time and remained there for approximately three minutes. The operational commander of the Polish Army, General Maciej Kleszcz, stated this at a briefing. According to him, the entire flight path of the object over Polish territory was tracked by radar systems. The object flew 40 kilometers deep into Polish territory.

Poland says “everything indicates” that a Russian missile briefly entered its airspace. The incident coincided with massive shelling Ukraine by the Russian army. According to the military, forces were “directed” to intercept it, but “the flight time and the method of maneuvering” allowed it to quickly leave NATO territory. The Chief of the Polish General Staff, General Wieslaw Kukula, stated:

“The Russian missile invaded Polish airspace and was tracked by us using radar, and then it left our territory. There is confirmation of this from our side and from the allies [по НАТО]”.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said: “NATO is monitoring the situation and we will remain in contact as the facts become clear”:

“I spoke to [польским] President Andrzej Duda about the missile incident in Poland. NATO stands in solidarity with our valued ally, is monitoring the situation, and we will remain in contact as the facts become clear. NATO remains vigilant.”

“In connection with the maneuvers that the missile carried out and its departure from Polish airspace, I, as the operational commander, did not make any decisions regarding this object,” – quotes operational commander of the Polish Army edition BB.LV. Earlier, Polsat News, citing sources, reported that most likely it was a Russian cruise missile Kh-22 or Kh-101.

After the incident, Poland’s civilian and military leadership held emergency meetings, and President Andrzej Duda held negotiations with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Deputy Foreign Minister Wladislav Teofil Bartoszewski, after a meeting with Charge d’Affaires of the Russian Federation Andrei Ordash, said that Warsaw will react more harshly to new airspace violations.

Bartoszewski told reporters about the details of the meeting, the portal WPolityce.pl reports. According to the deputy head of the Polish Foreign Ministry, at a meeting with Ordasz, he made it clear that “repetition of such attempts will cause a stronger reaction from the Republic of Poland, since this is a test of our effectiveness and our approach to defense”:

“I can assure you that we are able to respond quickly and effectively if this happens again. I told the chargé ad interim to stop testing our state’s borders.”

Official like writes BB.LV, clarified that in the future, if a Russian missile “flies a little further into Polish territory, it will be shot down. We have a well-trained army, wonderful commanders and a wonderful minister of national defense, and we will do everything to ensure security in 2024 Poland was significantly increased.”

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