“We take 100 percent responsibility for the decisions made by our soldiers and will support them,” W. Kosiniakas-Kamyszas said in the Seimas.
“We give them the authority to act according to established procedures and risk levels. The soldier himself assesses whether the missile would cause greater damage if intercepted or if allowed to fall in an uninhabited area,” he added.
W. Kosiniakas-Kamyszas stated that both the operational commander of the army and the pilot of the responding F-16 fighter were authorized to intercept the missile.
“If it had posed a threat to populated areas, it would have been shot down,” he said, adding that the rules for the use of air force power differ in peacetime and wartime.
Responding to criticism from opposition parliamentarians about the reaction to Thursday’s incident, W. Kosiniakas-Kamyszas mentioned the debris of the Russian Kh-55 cruise missile, which a civilian found in April 2023.
According to him, this object had previously flown deep into Poland without the knowledge of the then government, which is now in opposition.
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“Emergency services were mobilized immediately yesterday. Firefighters, police, and military police found the debris within 12 hours and were able to identify the type of missile,” W. Kosiniakas-Kamyszas said.
On the night leading into Thursday, Russia launched a massive attack against Ukraine, including its western regions bordering Poland, killing nine people.
During this strike, the Russian Kh-101 cruise missile entered Polish airspace and exploded early Thursday morning in a rural area near the eastern city of Lublin.
This was the second major violation of Polish airspace by Russia after about 20 Russian drones entered Polish airspace on the night of September 9–10, 2025.
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