Poland on high alert after armed forces spot ‘suspected observation balloon from Belarus’ in its airspace
- The country’s defense minister said the object was spotted on Friday evening
- The object disappeared from radar around 12:30 p.m. Saturday
Poland is on high 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 a subsequent surveillance was carried out.
However, the object disappeared from radar around 12:30 p.m. Saturday near Rypin, a town in central Poland about 180 miles from the country’s border with Belarus.
This follows two other invasions of Polish airspace since Russia invaded Ukraine, which borders Poland, last February.
In November last year, two Polish men died when a missile landed in eastern Poland.
The incident is similar to the one that happened over the United States in February when a Chinese spy balloon was shot down.
The balloon was recovered off Myrstyle Beach in South Carolina
Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high altitude surveillance balloon
The White House claimed that Chinese balloons had crossed dozens of countries on several continents.
Suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts towards ocean after being shot down off Surfside Beach, US
Western officials said they believed a Ukrainian air defense missile had strayed, killing the two men, as the Ukrainian air force tried to fight off the Russian invasion.
After the incident, Polish President Andrzej Duda said he had seen “no evidence” that the missile had been fired by Russia and that it was “very likely” that the S-300 rocket from the Soviet era comes from Ukraine.
“The Ukrainian defense was launching its 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 says Russia bears ultimate responsibility for the strike because Putin started the war in Ukraine.
Another object landed in Polish territory in December, but was only discovered by chance last month by a member of the public 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 the Chinese spy balloon, which passed over the United States and raised national security concerns in February.
The White House claimed that Chinese balloons had crossed dozens of countries on several continents.
