Unknown object flies into Polish airspace from Belarus

An unknown object that entered Polish airspace from the eastern direction was probably an observation balloon, the Polish Ministry of Defense announced on Twitter on Saturday.

The ministry said that the object was spotted by the country's flight control center, but radar contact with the object was lost near Rypin, a town in central Poland 143 kilometers northwest of the capital, Warsaw.

Captain Ewa Zlotnicka, press officer of the Armed Forces Operational Command, told broadcaster TVN 24 the object entered Polish airspace on Friday evening. According to Zlotnicka, to intercept the object, two MiG-29s, and then the F-16, were sent into the air.

A Territorial Defense Force spokesman said a search for the object was underway and the search team consisted of "about ten soldiers," including sappers and medics.

Poland is on alert

The development reported Saturday follows two other known incursions into Poland's airspace since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which lies on Poland's eastern border. The issue is raising questions about the authorities' handling of its air defenses amid new risks created by the war in Ukraine.

In November, two Polish men were killed when a missile landed in eastern Poland. Western officials said they believed a Ukrainian air defense missile went astray as Ukrainian air forces tried to repel a large-scale attack by Russia.

Polish military and political officials are also facing questions about another object that landed on Polish territory in December, but which was only discovered in April  in the woods near Zamosc, a small town outside the central Polish city of Bydgoszcz.

The Ministry of Defense later acknowledged that the debris, "possibly a missile," entered Polish airspace as early as December 16 but that airspace control did not immediately alert the ministry.

dh/rc (AP, dpa, Reuters)