Poland summons Russia’s ambassador over missile incursion
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Russian Ambassador to Poland Georgy Mikhno leaving the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw on July 31.
PHOTO: EPA
- Poland summoned the Russian ambassador after a missile, identified as a Kh-101 made near Moscow, landed in its eastern region near the Ukraine border.
- NATO and European leaders blamed Russia for the missile strike, which caused a crater and alarmed local residents.
- Similar incidents have occurred before, including a deadly missile in 2022 and multiple Russian drone incursions in Poland and other Eastern European countries.
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WARSAW - Poland’s foreign ministry on July 31 handed the Russian ambassador a note of protest following an incursion of a missile into one of its eastern regions a day earlier, a spokesman said.
“The ambassador was informed of our unequivocal condemnation of hostile actions directed against the security of a sovereign state and its citizens,” foreign ministry spokesman Maciej Wewior told journalists.
“We emphasised that any escalation at the border of the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance is unacceptable,” he added, underlining that the root of the incident was “the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation”.
Earlier on July 31, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that the ambassador had been summoned “in connection with the missile that hit Polish territory yesterday,” after the missile left a crater in a field some 80km from Poland’s border with Ukraine.
NATO and European leaders blamed Russia for the explosion of a Kh-101 missile in a field that shook residents of the village of Tarnawa Kolonia.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk (centre) visiting the site of the missile impact on July 30, with Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz (left) and Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“The missile was manufactured in the second quarter of this year at a factory near Moscow,” Polish defence minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote on X.
An expert from Ukraine who arrived at the scene “did not have the slightest doubt” about the origins or model of the missile, Marcin Kozak, spokesman for the Lublin prosecutor’s office, told journalists on July 31.
“I will point out that this type of missile is used exclusively by Russian strategic aviation,” Wewior said.
In November 2022, a Ukrainian air-defence missile fell on the Polish village of Przewodow, killing two people.
And in September 2025, around 20 Russian drones that entered Polish airspace were shot down or crashed.
Other eastern European states have also been hit by Russian drones and missiles since 2022, particularly Romania and Moldova. AFP
