Poland summons Russian ambassador after cruise missile lands in Lublin region, producing a 10-metre crater

The incident

A Russian Kh-101 cruise missile entered Polish airspace in the early hours of 30 July and exploded near the village of Tarnawa Kolonia in the Lublin region of eastern Poland. The projectile landed in an uninhabited area, creating a crater 10 metres in diameter and 5 metres deep, and causing no casualties. The missile entered Polish territory during a large-scale Russian air attack on Ukraine, which killed at least eight civilians and injured more than 50. The village sits roughly 80 kilometres from the border with Ukraine and the Lviv region, which was targeted at the same time. Deputy defence minister Cezary Tomczyk confirmed on Thursday evening on Rmf.fm that the object was a Russian Kh-101, noting the missile is potentially highly dangerous and could carry nuclear warheads.

We discussed with the head of operations, General Ireneusz Nowak, and we can confirm with full certainty that it is a Russian Kh-101 missile.

Identification and production date

Defence minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz stated on Friday that the missile was manufactured near Moscow in the second quarter of 2026. Fragments recovered from the site were examined, and an expert from Ukraine who arrived at the scene had no doubt about the origins or model of the weapon, according to Marcin Kozak, spokesman for the Lublin prosecutor's office. Foreign ministry spokesman Maciej Wewior noted that this type of missile is used exclusively by Russian strategic aviation. Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote on X that Russia is using newly produced missiles to strike Ukraine, confirming reports that Russian wartime stockpiles have been depleted.

This means that Russia is using newly produced missiles to strike Ukraine. It confirms reports that Russian wartime stockpiles have been depleted.

Diplomatic response

Prime minister Donald Tusk announced on Friday that the foreign ministry had summoned the Russian ambassador and handed him a protest note. Maciej Wewior told journalists that the ambassador heard an unequivocal condemnation of hostile actions directed against the security of a sovereign state and its citizens. He stressed that any escalation at the border of the European Union and the North Atlantic alliance is unacceptable, and identified the root of the incident as the Russian invasion of Ukraine. NATO and European Union leaders condemned the airspace violation. The Russian embassy in Warsaw did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

We conveyed to the ambassador our unequivocal condemnation of hostile actions directed against the security of a sovereign state and its citizens.

Domestic measures

Interior minister Marcin Kierwinski told TVN24 that the government would overhaul all emergency protocols and launch a mobile application to alert citizens in a crisis. He acknowledged structural flaws inherited in the public alert and protection systems, adding that the priority was to complete a full redesign to make up for lost time and build a modern and effective threat-response system. The new mobile app, covering all alarm systems for both emergencies and natural disasters, will be created in the coming weeks and will provide shelter locations based on the user's phone position as well as the start and end of alerts.

Broader pattern of incursions

The incident is the latest in a series of airspace violations on NATO's eastern flank since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In November 2022, a Ukrainian air-defence missile fell on the Polish village of Przewodow, killing two people. In September 2025, around 20 Russian drones that entered Polish airspace were shot down or crashed over a period of seven and a half hours (some sources put the number between 19 and 23). Romania and Moldova have also been hit by Russian drones and missiles during the conflict.