Russian Missile Lands in Poland as Deadly Airstrikes Hit Ukraine

A missile believed to have been fired by Russia landed deep inside Poland on Thursday after Moscow launched a large scale wave of missile and drone attacks across Ukraine, raising fresh concerns about the conflict spilling into NATO territory.

According to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, preliminary assessments indicate the projectile was a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile. The missile landed about 90 kilometres inside Polish territory near the village of Tarnawa Kolonia in Lublin Province, leaving a large crater in an open field.

“We were prepared to shoot down the missile if it had continued its flight,” Tusk said during an emergency government meeting, adding that NATO commanders had been informed of the incident.

Poland’s military said the country’s air defence systems tracked multiple Russian missiles over western Ukraine during the overnight assault and assessed that one violated Polish airspace before crashing. Police said residents reported hearing a powerful explosion, though no casualties were immediately reported.

The incident came as Russia carried out one of its latest large scale aerial attacks on Ukraine, using more than 70 missiles and over 280 attack drones, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Ukrainian officials said at least eight people, including several children, were killed across the country. In the village of Radushne, near Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih, six members of the same family died after a ballistic missile destroyed their home. Two children were rescued alive from the rubble.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said it targeted military facilities across Ukraine using long range precision weapons launched from land, air and sea, as well as attack drones.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the missile that entered Poland was part of Russia’s broader attack on western Ukraine, describing it as another example of the risks posed to neighbouring countries by Moscow’s continued missile campaign.

The latest incident marks one of the deepest reported incursions into Polish territory since Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. In November 2022, a missile killed two people near the Polish Ukrainian border, although investigators later concluded it was likely an air defence missile fired by Ukraine while responding to a Russian attack.

Poland, a member of NATO, has repeatedly scrambled fighter jets during Russian missile attacks on western Ukraine. NATO has previously condemned repeated violations of allied airspace and continues to monitor developments closely.

The strikes came only days after Zelensky visited Washington, where he appealed to U.S. President Donald Trump for additional air defence systems and military assistance. On his return journey, Zelensky met Tusk in Lublin, where both leaders discussed regional security and continued support for Ukraine.