Missile Attacks on Ukraine and Poland: What Is Known?

Over the past day, the Russian Federation launched a massive missile attack on Ukraine’s military and civilian infrastructure. According to the General Staff of Ukraine, residential buildings of citizens and critical infrastructure facilities in Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, Poltava, Lviv, Khmelnytsky, and other regions of our country were affected.

Some 14 Tu-95 strategic missile carriers, ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and Iranian Shahed-136/131 attack kamikaze drones were involved in another terrorist act against the Ukrainian state.

“In total, more than 90 missiles were launched: about 70 Kh-101/Kh-555 air-based cruise missiles from the north of the Caspian Sea and from Volgodonsk (Rostov region), as well as about 20 sea-based Kalibr missiles from the Black Sea. In addition, the enemy used 10 kamikaze drones,” the General Staff said.

Ukrainian air defence destroyed 73 enemy cruise missiles and all 10 kamikaze drones. In addition, one Orion attack UAV was destroyed.

NATO under Missiles

Yesterday, Polish media outlets reported that two Russian rockets fell near the village of Przewodów in Poland, killing two people. A top U.S. intelligence official, quoted by the AP agency, said that these were Russian missiles.

Ukraine expresses full solidarity with Poland and is ready to provide it with any necessary support, said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba.

“The collective response to Russia’s actions must be tough and principled. Among such immediate actions: a NATO summit with the participation of Ukraine to develop further joint actions that will force Russia to change its course on escalation, and providing Ukraine with modern fighter jets such as the F-15 and F-16, as well as air defence systems,” he listed.

In turn, Vadym Denysenko, head of the Institute of the Future, believes that the main reason for the attack of the Russian Federation is to show their people that the collective West is cowardly and will not be able to respond to a direct attack on their territory. The second good reason is the blackmail of the West to force negotiations.

“I will allow myself to express my own opinion: if there were no statements by top U.S. officials about the expediency of negotiations, there would not have been such an attack. Putin has always perceived such statements as weakness. The Russian Federation needs this attack right now, when the Russians left Kherson and received a hard slap in parallel from China and the USA, which jointly forbade them to blackmail Ukraine and the world with nuclear weapons. The Russian people are simply happy about the attack on Poland. The attack on a farm in Poland and the loss of Kherson are more than relevant for a Russian,” Denysenko said.

Today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland summoned the Russian ambassador for explanations regarding the shelling of Polish territory. In addition, NATO ambassadors will meet at the request of Poland according to Article 4 of the Alliance. As two European diplomats told Reuters, the Alliance will proceed with caution and will need time to verify exactly how the incident happened.

Natalia Tolub