Poland protests Russian ambassador over missile incursion in Lublin region
Poland has summoned the Russian ambassador after confirming that a missile landed in the village of Tarnawa Kolonia in the Lublin region on Thursday. Polish officials said the projectile was a Russian Kh-101 missile, marking a fresh cross-border security incident on NATO's eastern flank. No casualties or injuries were reported.
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Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced on Friday that the ambassador had been called in following the incursion. A spokesman for Poland's foreign ministry said the ambassador was told of Warsaw's "unequivocal condemnation" of hostile actions directed against the security of a sovereign state and its citizens. The ministry also said any escalation at the border of the European Union and NATO was unacceptable, and linked the incident to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Polish officials said the missile was identified as part of an attack on Ukraine that killed at least eight civilians and injured more than 50. Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said Warsaw had established that the missile was produced near Moscow in the second quarter of this year. He said that indicated Russia was using newly produced missiles in its strikes, which he said supported reports that wartime stockpiles had been depleted.
The incident adds to concern among NATO and European leaders about repeated drone and missile intrusions affecting Poland, Romania and the Baltic states. Those incidents have fuelled fears that Russia's war in Ukraine could spill further across the alliance's borders. Poland's confirmation that the missile was a Kh-101, a type used by Russian strategic aviation, has also sharpened attention on the reach of Moscow's long-range strike campaign.
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The missile was examined at the scene by an expert from Ukraine, who, according to a spokesman for the prosecutor's office in Lublin, had no doubt about its origin or model. Polish officials said the projectile landed in Tarnawa Kolonia, a village in the eastern part of the country close to the border region that has been repeatedly watched for spillover from the war. The case is now part of a wider pattern of security alerts along NATO's eastern edge.
What remains unclear is how the missile entered Polish territory and whether the incursion was accidental or deliberate. Polish authorities have not reported any damage beyond the confirmed landing site, and no further injuries have been announced. The incident is likely to remain under investigation as Warsaw continues to press Moscow diplomatically and as allies monitor the risk of further border violations.
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