Russia missile lands in Poland as NATO scrambles in response

A Russian missile crashed into a field in eastern Poland early Thursday, leaving a large crater after one of Russia’s largest overnight missile and drone attacks on Ukraine prompted Warsaw to scramble fighter jets and place air defenses on high alert.

U.S. Army Col. Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for NATO’s military headquarters, said the alliance activated a wide range of air defenses in response to the intrusion. He said that investigators were still assessing what type of Russian missile was involved.

Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich, NATO supreme allied command and head of U.S. European Command, has been in talks with Poland’s chief of defense about the alliance’s response to the incident.

Grynkewich “underlined that NATO will continue to take all necessary measures to defend NATO territory,” O’Donnell said.

Two NATO fighter jets, which were Polish F-16s, a NATO Multinational Multi-Role Tanker Transport Unit Airbus A330 refueling aircraft, a Polish Saab 340 Airborne Early Warning aircraft and a Polish Mi-24 helicopter, were scrambled in response, O’Donnell said.

The incident unfolded as Polish and allied surveillance systems tracked a wave of Russian long-range strikes on western Ukraine, where missiles flew close enough to the border to raise concerns they could stray into NATO airspace, Polish officials said earlier Thursday.

“An extremely tough night for our air defense, observation and threat detection systems,” Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said in a statement Thursday.

Air defense radars tracked at least a dozen missiles over western Ukraine, with one coming within about 3 miles of the Polish border before turning back east, Poland’s operational command said.

Minutes later, military radar detected an unidentified object moving westward inside Polish airspace, the statement said.

An F-16 assigned to quick-reaction alert duty was dispatched to intercept the object, but it disappeared from radar before the pilot could make contact, the military said.

Authorities are now investigating the site in a village near Lublin where the object landed, leaving a large crater, officials said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a statement Thursday the incident involved a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile that crossed into Poland, but Polish officials had not confirmed that assessment.

Local residents said the object shook the ground on impact.

“We’ve lived here all our lives and have never heard anything like it. The windows were almost blown out,” one resident told the Polish news outlet Lublin 112. 

The episode illustrates how Russia’s increasingly frequent long-range attacks on western Ukraine are testing NATO’s eastern flank, forcing Poland to repeatedly launch aircraft and elevate air defense readiness when missiles or drones approach the alliance’s borders.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland has regularly scrambled fighters during major Russian air attacks, particularly when cruise missiles and drones target areas near Lviv and other cities in western Ukraine.

Such missions are designed to protect Polish airspace and reassure allies that NATO’s eastern edge remains under constant surveillance as Russia’s air campaign intensifies.

The latest incident would be one of the most serious violations of Polish airspace to happen during the war in Ukraine.

In November 2022, two people were killed when a missile struck the Polish village of Przewodow near the Ukrainian border. Investigators later concluded the projectile was most likely a Ukrainian air defense missile fired in response to a Russian attack.

In March 2024, a Russian cruise missile briefly crossed into Polish airspace before returning to Ukraine, prompting Warsaw to demand an explanation from Moscow.