Poland Explains Reasons Not To Shoot Down Russian Missile Over Country

The trajectory of the missile was tracked.

At night, a Russian cruise missile violated the Polish border and returned to Ukrainian airspace after 39 seconds. The Polish authorities said that they knew the trajectory of the missile and would have shot it down if the target was flying to Poland, the PAP agency reports.

“In the case of this missile, there was no decision to shoot it down. We knew the flight path, besides, the missile was in our airspace for a very short time. There was also no question of engaging fighter jets since it was not heading deep into our territory," said Jacek Goriszewski, the Speaker for the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces.

The missile violated the border in the Lublin Voivodeship, flying at an altitude of 400 meters at a speed of 800 kilometers per hour. All the time it was monitored by radar, the representative of the Polish Army assured.

“We knew its directions and determined where the missile would leave our airspace. Our airspace has been kept as safe as possible. We are constantly monitoring the situation in Ukraine," Goriszewski assured.

Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence of Poland Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, commenting on the incident, said that each such situation is studied separately:

"If there were any signs that this object was headed for any purpose in the territory of the republic, then, of course, it would have been shot down."

The minister called the actions of the operational command of the Polish Armed Forces, which decided not to touch the Russian missile in Polish airspace, correct.

At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland is going to demand explanations from Moscow.

"Poland will demand explanations from the Russian Federation in connection with another violation of the country's airspace," said the official MFA representative Pawel Wronski.

He also called on the Kremlin to "stop terrorist attacks on the people and territory of Ukraine, end the war and solve the country's internal problems."

“We express our condolences to the victims of the Russian bombing. Poland condemns all forms of terrorism and attempts to forcibly redefine borders," Wronski said.