Poland has demanded an explanation from Moscow after saying a Russian cruise missile aimed at Ukraine entered its territory.
“On March 24 at 4:23 a.m., there was a violation of Polish airspace by one of the cruise missiles launched tonight by the long-range aviation of the Russian Federation,” the Operational Command of the Polish armed forces said on X.
“The object flew into Polish [air]space near the village of Oserdow (Lublin Voivodeship) and spent 39 seconds in it,” Operational Command said. “It was observed by military radar systems throughout its flight.”
The report came after Ukrainian officials said Russia had launched about 20 missiles and seven Shahed attack drones targeting the western Ukrainian region of Lviv, which is near the Polish border. There were also multiple explosions reported in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
if the missile was in polish airspace for less than a minute, would they be able to detect that it was in their space, identify it, and destroy it in time before it had left again?
It’s entirely possible they could detect it before it entered their airspace. The entire purpose of anti-missile platforms is to be ready and react to them in real-time. 39 seconds would be plenty if they had anti-missile defenses on the border with standing orders to shoot down missiles entering their airspace.
Hell, Poland could even designate an air exclusion zone stretching miles away from the Polish border and destroy Russian ordinance that enters it. What is Russia going to do, bitch that they can’t freely bomb Ukraine?
Poland could only do that if Ukraine would allow that. But I think Ukraine wouldn’t mind.
They also need to worry about debris. You shoot down a missile in your airspace, it’s likely gonna land in your territory…if a Russian missile killed a civilian in a NATO country right now (even under these circumstances)…well, that’s a big can of worms I think we’d all like to avoid opening