How Poland “missed” a Russian X-55 missile that flew an extra 400 km – details of the incident
In the third year of a full-scale war, Polish officials cannot figure out who is responsible for responding to the appearance of a Russian warhead on Polish territory, journalists of the Defence24 portal have reported.
Former Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak was not sincere when he said in December 2022 that no Russian X-55 missile had flown into Polish territory. The politician allegedly found out about it only a week later, when he read a report from the Armed Forces Command. The missile flew 450 kilometers and was not shot down because there was no one to make the appropriate decision. The details of the Russian missile strike, which took place more than a year ago, on December 16, 2022, were reported on the Defence24 portal.
The portal’s journalists told about the debate between Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk and former Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak. The former accused the latter of lying at a press conference on the December 16 incident, when a Russian X-55 missile infiltrated Poland.
During his speech to the parliamentarians, Tomchyk described the chronology of events of that day. His story suggests that Poland has security problems that are not recognized or addressed. There have been no changes even after the incident with the missile, which is a potential nuclear weapon.
According to the official, some details of the incident from a year ago, on December 16, 2022, became known.
- The X-55 missile entered Poland and was detected 60 kilometers from the border near the town of Chełm.
- Minister Blashchak was allegedly informed about the missile. At the same time, the minister claims that he did not know about this, and only learned about it on December 23, when he received a report from the Armed Forces (he reads reports not once a day, but once a week).
- After Helm, the missile disappeared from the radar.
- F-16 fighters, which were not used to neutralize the X-55, were sent into the sky.
- The missile disappeared, was searched for and not found, and was forgotten about until April 2023.
- In April 2023, an ordinary Polish citizen found the wreckage of a missile near the city of Bydgoszcz, 450 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
- After that, Minister Blaszczak again came out with a statement that he knew nothing about the incident.
The Defence Express portal explained that the reaction of Poland’s defense and military departments showed their complete unpreparedness to respond to the threat. If you plot the approximate trajectory of the missile, you can see that it flew directly over Warsaw. Not a single shot was fired at it to destroy it, because it was simply not on the radar. Meanwhile, the X-55 is an old Soviet missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
Photo: Google Maps
Former Minister Blaszczak responded to the accusations by saying that he denied everything and really knew nothing. Defence Express noted that Poland is still not addressing security issues, instead finding out who is more to blame for the problems.
Russian shelling – incidents in Poland
It is worth noting that several incidents with missiles from the Russian Armed Forces that flew there during the next shelling of Ukraine took place in Poland.
On November 15, two explosions occurred in Poland near the town of Przewodow, Lublin Voivodeship, killing two citizens. Subsequently, a dispute erupted over which missiles exploded: it was speculated that they could have been Russian cruise missiles or Ukrainian S-300 air defense missiles.
On December 29, 2023, when Russia carried out one of its most massive strikes against Ukraine, an X-101 missile crossed the border, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported. The Polish side later said that F-16 fighters were alerted to shoot down the target. However, it was not reported that this actually happened – she allegedly turned around and flew to Ukraine. Later, Polish analysts noted that the missile was “circling” in the area where the Patriot SAM had been located some time ago, and had been removed from there just a couple of weeks before the incident.
