The Polish Government blamed Russia for a drone that hit a Polish village in the east of Poland, 100km from the Ukrainian border, damaging houses.
There was confusion regarding whether the munition had been tracked in Polish airspace before it exploded on August 20.
Military commanders denied that there had been an incursion into Polish airspace, while Polish daily Rzeczpospolita claimed a fast-moving object had at one stage been identified.
Poland’s district Prosecutor Grzegorz Trusiewicz told reporters the object that came down in the village of Osiny in Łuków county, near the city of Lublin, was a military drone.
“In a cornfield, we found charred fragments of charred metal and plastic remains of various sizes, scattered within a radius of several dozen meters. These are charred metal and plastic remains and there was damage to three farm houses nearby,” said Lublin police when reporting the incident.
Speaking at a press conference Trusiewicz said a crater measuring around 5m to 6m wide and 50cm deep was caused by the blast. It is unclear whether the drone exploded mid-air or on impact.
“Recovered parts of the drone indicate the use of explosives. We cannot yet specify the type, quantity or composition, but there is a very high probability that an explosion occurred,” Trusiewicz said.
He would not confirm if the object was a “suicide drone” designed to loiter over a target area and then strike by crashing into it with a warhead. Nor could he identify for certain the makers of the drone.
“At this stage, we are dealing with a military drone. The damage was most likely caused by explosives,” he said.
“We have ruled out the possibility that this was a civilian drone or a smuggling drone,” Trusiewicz added.
He later said that engine parts from the aircraft appeared to bear Korean writing, adding that the extent of the damage made it difficult to establish exactly what the object was or where it came from.
Defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, though, later claimed it had been identified as a Russian Shahed drone and accused Russia of launching “a provocation at a time when peace is being discussed”.
Foreign minister Radosław Sikorski wrote on X on August 21: “Another violation of our airspace from the East confirms that Poland’s most important mission towards NATO is the defence of our own territory.”
Sikorski added: “There will be a protest by the foreign ministry against the perpetrator,” although his spokesman Paweł Wroński later admitted that Russia had ignored previous Polish protests against provocations such as arson attacks and espionage.
Incidents involving unidentified objects have drawn public attention in Poland in recent years due to the country’s proximity to Ukraine. That country has faced continued Russian missile and drone attacks since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
The most consequential incident, in late 2022, involved a Ukrainian defence missile that strayed from its flight path and ended up on Polish territory, hitting a farm building and killing two civilians.
At first it was suspected that it was a Russian attack and the Ukrainians initially denied that the rocket was theirs. The Polish authorities investigated the matter with their NATO allies and found that it had been fired from Ukraine.
There was a Russian rocket that was found way inland to crash in a forest near the northern city of Bydgoszcz. It seemed to have been lost by Polish radar after it entered Polish airspace in 2022.
Other European nations, including Romania and the Baltic States of Lithuania and Latvia, have also reported airspace violations by Russia and its ally Belarus.
