In the course of his war of aggression against Ukraine, which violates international law, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has repeatedly shelled Ukrainian cities that are not near the front lines. That happened last week when Russian missiles attacked the capital Kiev, among other things. Cities in the west of the country are also the target of Russian attacks, such as Lviv. The metropolis is only 70 kilometers from the Polish border.
In such an attack, a missile would have fallen into a central Polish forest in December 2022, and thus into the territory of a NATO state. According to the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, the object is said to be a stray Russian CH-55 missile. The approximately six meter long cruise missile was apparently not identified by the Ukrainian defense. Poland immediately launched an investigation into the missile and asked US secret services for help.
The newspaper report has now been indirectly confirmed by the official side, because according to the Office of the President, the accompanying warhead has also been discovered. “It’s quite special, because it’s made of concrete,” said Pawel Szrot, chief of cabinet to President Andrzej Duda, on Rmf.fm on Friday. And further he scoffed:
The CH-55 is a Russian development from the 1970s. The air-to-surface cruise missile is usually fired by strategic bombers and covers distances of up to 2,500 kilometers at a speed of up to Mach 0.8. The CH-55 missiles (NATO code: AS-15 Kent) were originally intended to be equipped with nuclear warheads.
According to the government spokesman, the warhead found in Poland did not contain any explosives. That is why the Russian army now used this older type of missile with a concrete warhead to confuse the Ukrainian air defenses.
According to media reports, the missile debris was only discovered on April 24 in a forest near Zamosc, a village near the town of Bydgoszcz – hundreds of kilometers from the Ukrainian and Belarusian borders. Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak was forced to admit that a military aircraft, “possibly a missile”, had entered Polish airspace on December 16. However, the airspace control did not immediately pass on this information.
Used sources:
(t-online, cc)
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
