Poland on high alert after armed forces spot ‘suspected observation balloon from Belarus’ in their skies
- The country’s defense minister said the object was spotted on Friday night
- The object disappeared from radar around 12:30 p.m. on Saturday
Poland is on alert after armed forces detected a suspected observation balloon in its airspace coming from the direction of Belarus.
The country’s defense minister shared on Twitter that the object was spotted around 8:30 p.m. on Friday and monitoring was subsequently carried out.
However, the object disappeared from radar around 12:30 a.m. Saturday near Rypin, a town in central Poland about 180 miles from the border with Belarus.
It comes after two other invasions of Polish airspace since Russia invaded Ukraine, which borders Poland, last February.
In November last year, two Polish men were killed when a rocket landed in eastern Poland.
The incident is similar to what happened over the US in February when a Chinese spy balloon was shot down
The balloon was recovered off the coast of Myrtyle Beach in South Carolina
Sailors from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a surveillance balloon at a great height
The White House claimed that Chinese balloons have crossed dozens of countries across multiple continents.
Suspected Chinese spy balloon floats to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, US
Western officials have said they believe a Ukrainian air defense missile strayed, leading to the deaths of the two men, as the Ukrainian air force attempted to fight the Russian invasion.
Following the incident, Polish President Andrzej Duda said he had seen “no evidence” that the missile had been fired by Russia and that it was “highly likely” that the Soviet-era S-300 missile came from Ukraine.
“The defense of Ukraine launched their missiles in different directions and it is very likely that one of these missiles unfortunately fell on Polish territory,” Duda said at the time.
He argues that Russia bears ultimate responsibility for the strike because Putin started the war in Ukraine.
Another object landed on Polish territory in December, only to be discovered by accident last month by a visitor riding a horse in a nearby forest.
Polish media later reported that the object was a Russian KH-55 missile.
The incident is similar to that of the Chinese spy balloon, which flew over the US in February and raised national security concerns.
The White House claimed that Chinese balloons have crossed dozens of countries across multiple continents.