Poland's air defence system initially detected the object but subsequently lost track of it.

Poland’s armed forces chief believes a Russian missile entered Poland for almost three minutes and then turned back into Ukrainian airspace.

Gen Wieslaw Kukula said the missile travelled about 40km (25 miles) into Polish airspace early on Friday. The alert coincided with what Ukraine has called Russia’s biggest day of air strikes since its war began. President Andrzej Duda convened an emergency security meeting after the object was picked up on radar. About 200 police officers have been conducting a search of the area where the object was detected in case the missile landed on Polish territory.

    • sparky@lemmy.federate.cc@lemmy.federate.ccEnglish
      6·
      11 months ago

      Not necessarily. NATO military tech can track rockets in real time and project a destination. If you can see a missile is headed for a sparsely populated area and unlikely to inflict casualties, then you are better off letting it go. To intercept the missile is to demonstrate your defensive capabilities. Right now, Russia is likely in the dark about that. Unclear whether showing their hand is strategically the right move for Poland.

    • DreamlandLividity@lemmy.worldEnglish
      41·
      11 months ago

      Honestly, it is a bit concerning that it couldn’t have been shot down :/

      Although having active SAM battery is probably too risky when not at war.

      • JackOfAllTraits@lemmy.worldEnglish
        11·
        11 months ago

        I mean, look, AA is a numbers game. Nato, just like Ukraine and Russia, would miss a bunch of missiles in an open war. You can never get them all