Several European leaders, including the President of the European Council, António Costa, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, denounced on Thursday 30 July the violation of Polish airspace during a Russian attack on Ukraine on the night of 29 to 30 July.
A crater measuring 10 metres in diameter and debris from an unidentified object were discovered in an uninhabited area in eastern Poland, in the Lublin region, around 80 km from the Ukrainian border. According to Ukraine, the projectile is believed to have been a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile.
“During the attack, Polish airspace was also violated, underlining once again that Russia’s aggression is a threat to the security of Europe as a whole”, Mr Costa said on X, stressing the EU’s full solidarity with the Ukrainian and Polish authorities “working tirelessly to protect and defend their citizens”.
Ms von der Leyen, on X, denounced “another unacceptable violation of our EU airspace caused by Russia’s latest strikes on Ukraine, this time over Poland”.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he was in permanent contact with the NATO command and the leaders of European countries, who, according to him, “all” expressed “their readiness to provide any form of assistance”. He also spoke with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. The latter said that Poland and NATO had activated their air and ground defences and that the Alliance would continue to strengthen its defensive capacity against any threat, “including missile attacks”.
Accordingly, two NATO fighter aircraft, Polish F-16s, a(n) Airbus A330 multirole tanker aircraft, a Polish Saab 340 airborne surveillance aircraft and a Polish Mi-24 helicopter were deployed, according to an Alliance spokesperson, Martin O'Donnell.
Russia is said to have launched 74 missiles and 284 drones against Ukraine overnight, killing at least eight people. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)