Unidentified object lands deep inside Poland causing explosion as Russia launches deadly, Ukraine-wide attack

Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said a missile apparently fired by Russia landed deep inside its territory early Thursday, as Moscow launched deadly long-range attacks across Ukraine that killed at least eight people. The missile landed and exploded about 90 kilometers (55 miles) into Polish territory early Thursday, leaving a massive crater in the middle of a field, local authorities said. “We were prepared to shoot down the missile if it had continued its flight,” Tusk told an emergency government meeting, according to his office on X. “All indications suggest that it was a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile.” “NATO commanders are being kept informed,” he added. Poland had earlier reported scrambling fighter jets in response to a major Russian attack on Ukraine, which hit large swathes of the country and killed at least eight people, including children, and left several people trapped under rubble. Any potential Russian attack so deep inside a NATO member’s territory would risk being perceived as an escalation in Moscow’s yearslong war on Ukraine. It is not the first time Poland has reported a “Russian-made” missile landing inside its territory. In November 2022, one struck and killed two people but that incident was only 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) from the Ukrainian border. CNN has reached out to NATO for comment. The attacks come days after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to the United States to again plead for more air defenses. Kyiv is also emphasizing its ability to hit deep inside Russia, attacking Wildberries facilities, often described as “Russia’s Amazon,” across the border. Moscow has intensified its air attacks too – more Ukrainian civilians have been killed this month than in any since April 2022. The missile crashed in an undeveloped area near the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia in Lublin province, Poland’s army said. Polish police said residents reported hearing a powerful blast. “During the Russian massive missile attack on western Ukraine, a violation of Polish airspace occurred,” Tusk said earlier in a post to X. A government spokesperson said Tusk was on his way to the crash site. Separately, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said a Russian cruise missile had “crossed into Poland as part of Russia’s massive strike against Ukraine” in a post to X. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it carried out a “massive strike using long-range precision weapons from land, air, and sea” as well as attack drones on military sites across Ukraine, in a statement posted to Telegram Thursday. Poland’s army said the country’s air defenses observed at least a dozen missiles over western Ukraine, which posed a potential threat to Polish airspace. The attack damaged or destroyed dozens of homes, businesses and infrastructure facilities, Zelensky said on Telegram Thursday, and used more than 70 missiles and over 280 attack drones. Ukraine intercepted more than 260 drones, according to Zelensky, in what he said was a commendable feat given a “critical shortage of air defense missiles from our partners.” On his way home on Wednesday, Zelensky stopped in the Polish city of Lublin – not far from the site of the next day’s crash – to meet with Tusk. The two leaders discussed “the outcomes of (Zelensky’s) visit to the United States and the security of Poland, Ukraine, and all of Europe,” according to a post to X by Tusk. Poland has routinely scrambled jets in response to Russian attacks on western Ukraine, though they have rarely entered its territory. NATO fighter jets shot down multiple Russian drones that violated Polish airspace last September, denouncing Moscow for “absolutely dangerous behavior.” Deadly month for Ukraine This wave of attacks killed at least eight people across the country, according to its foreign minister Andrii Sybiha, including six members of a single family. In the village of Radushne, near Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih, parents and four children were killed after a ballistic missile blew a family home “into smithereens,” Zelensky said. Two more children were pulled alive from the rubble, he added. Two girls, aged 5 and 12, were among the three children killed, Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the southern Ukrainian city’s military administration, said on Telegram, calling it a “dark night.” Graphic video from Radushne showed bodies strewn amid the rubble of a shattered building, with fires still burning. Two unseen women could be heard speaking. “We’ve pulled one child out. There are still some lying over there,” one said. “There are children here. There are many children,” the other said. In Lviv, emergency workers rescued an injured 10-year-old boy, who was carried away on a stretcher, as they raced to save people trapped under rubble after an attack on a residential building. Dozens across the country were wounded. This story has been updated with additional developments.