Polish military radars failed to identify a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jet near the Polish-Ukrainian border during a Russian attack on Ukraine on the night of July 30, creating a risk of friendly fire, according to Ireneusz Nowak, operational commander of the Polish Armed Forces. Nowak described the incident in an interview with the newspaper Rzeczpospolita.
Nowak said a pair of Polish combat aircraft was on duty that night in eastern Poland. One jet was finishing mid-air refueling while the other was positioned near the Ukrainian border. At around 3:40 a.m., neither Polish command nor the pilot of a Polish F-16 could identify an object moving directly along the border.
The object turned out to be a Ukrainian MiG-29, which was being tracked by the Polish F-16 and by some of Poland's ground-based air defense systems. The MiG-29 is a Soviet-designed fighter jet that has formed part of Ukraine's air force since before the war, while the F-16 is a US-made multirole fighter that Poland flies as a mainstay of its air force.
Nowak said that if the Ukrainian pilot had lost focus for as little as 30 seconds and strayed into Polish airspace, Polish forces might have had to decide whether to open fire.
Second Jet's Close Call
Nowak said the second aircraft in the duty pair, having just completed refueling, came within two minutes of a Russian cruise missile, crossing its flight path and standing ready to intercept it had the missile continued flying for longer.
Missile Strike Near Tarnawa-Kolonia
Nowak said that after analyzing the attack, he is 80 percent confident that the impact of a Kh-101 missile in a field near the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia was not accidental. The Kh-101 is a Russian air-launched cruise missile used to strike targets at long range.
He said the missile's trajectory had no alternative target inside Ukraine and led directly to the point where it eventually struck.
Why Poland Was Kept in the Dark
Nowak also explained why the Polish side did not know for a long time about the movement of Ukrainian aircraft near the border. Ukraine's air defense command and control system, called Virazh, coordinates threat data through a network of acoustic sensors, including smartphones with microphones mounted on poles across the country. Before the incident, the system only passed Poland information about Russian missiles and drones that could potentially breach Polish airspace.
Ukraine deliberately withheld data about the movement of its own aircraft, since such information is extremely sensitive for Kyiv. According to the report, Ukrainian aircraft on the ground are easy targets for Russia, and concealing their location is a matter of pilot survival.
Poland's Request and Ukraine's Response
Following the incident, Poland's Operational Command sent a letter to the chief of Ukraine's General Staff and the commander of Ukraine's Air Force asking to be informed about the movement of Ukrainian aviation near the border. Kyiv has since begun doing so.
What Happened That Night
UNIAN had earlier reported that air raid sirens sounded in Poland on the night of July 30 during a Russian strike on Ukraine. Authorities in Lublin and most other towns in the Lublin Voivodeship confirmed there was a threat of an air attack. A powerful explosion was heard in Biłgoraj County, between the villages of Tarnawa-Kolonia and Biskupice.
A police patrol that responded to the scene found a crater in a field about two kilometers from the nearest buildings, along with scattered fragments of an unidentified object.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk later confirmed that the missile which entered Polish airspace was Russian, identifying it as a Kh-101 cruise missile. Tusk said Poland's air defense had been ready to shoot the missile down had it continued flying.
