Media said it was most likely an old air-launched missile from the Warsaw Pact era
FILE PHOTO: Police officers in Poland. © Artur Widak / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Polish officials are working to establish the origins of a purported military craft discovered in the northern part of the country. National media reported that the fragments had “inscriptions in Russian” on them and that the object was likely a Polish missile.
The mystery find was discovered in a forest some 15 km east of the city of Bydgoszcz, the administrative center of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, according to news reports and statements by Polish officials on Thursday. Media said there was a heavy presence of law enforcement, soldiers and bomb experts in the area.
Polish authorities offered only limited comments on the incident. The defense ministry stated that the situation posed no threat to civilians in a Twitter post. Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro confirmed an ongoing probe into the “aerial military craft” near Bydgoszcz by military and civilian investigators.
Read more
RMF FM radio initially reported that the aircraft may have been a drone and that investigators found inscriptions in the Russian language on them. It later revised the assessment, suggesting that the remains came from an air-to-surface missile, which probably belonged to the Polish military. Poland has a stockpile of legacy weapons received from the USSR when it was a member of the Warsaw Pact.
The object was reportedly first found on Monday, but has likely been at the location for as long as several weeks. It was described by journalists as several meters long and sticking out of the ground.
Last November, two Polish farmers were killed by a missile close to the Ukrainian border. Kiev claimed that the projectile was Russian, with President Vladimir Zelensky urging “collective action” by NATO members in retaliation.
Warsaw acknowledged that it was most likely a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile, which strayed off course and into Polish airspace. The Polish government, which supports Kiev in its fight against Russia, blamed Moscow for the incident.
