A Russian missile that landed in Poland on Thursday was capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the NATO member state has revealed.
Polish authorities said that the explosion near the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia, close to Lublin, had created a 10m-wide crater.
Residents of Tarnawa-Kolonia reported hearing an explosion at about 4am that shook the windows of their homes, police said.
NATO has since said it has been in contact with Polish authorities and warned that it would ‘take all necessary measures to defend NATO territory.’
Mark Rutte, Secretary-General of NATO, called the incident ‘yet another reckless act by Russia and a dangerous consequence of its war against Ukraine.’
Polish police found the crater and scattered debris in a field near the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia in the Lublin province, following reports of an explosion.
The missile disappeared from army radars tracking it in domestic airspace during Russian strikes on Ukraine.
Poland scrambled fighter jets to secure its airspace after Russian air strikes killed at least 13 in neighbouring Ukraine, including one in Kyiv, the capital, in attacks that spread as far as the western city of Lviv.
‘An unidentified object moving westward was detected in Polish airspace,’ the operational command of the armed forces said on X, adding that it disappeared from radars soon after the sighting at 3.40am.
A Mi-24 helicopter that went to the object’s last location to verify and confirm the radar data pinpointed the likely crash site, it added.
