Investigators establishing the details of a Russian missile crashing near Lublin in Poland have determined where and when the missile was manufactured, Polsat News has reported.
Lublin District Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Marcin Kozak confirmed the missile was a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile.
"Preliminary examination of the traces found at the scene has already allowed us to make categorical conclusions about what object we were dealing with. It has been confirmed that this was a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile, manufactured in the second quarter of 2026 at one of the factories in Moscow region," Kozak said.
He added that the next stage of the investigation will involve interviewing witnesses and seizing all recordings that could help reconstruct the missile’s flight path.
"We are cooperating with other state services, with the Border Guard and the Air Force Command, which have information on the direction the missile flew from and the route it took," he said.
The spokesman also said an official investigation would be launched on Friday into creating a risk of an aviation disaster that could have endangered the life and health of many people or caused major property damage. He added that the investigation would also cover the violation of Polish airspace without the necessary authorization.
Creating a risk of a disaster in air traffic carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
The prosecution spokesman acknowledged that bringing charges against anyone could prove difficult given limited cooperation with Russian authorities.
"However, this does not relieve us of the obligation to gather evidence and launch an investigation. We are fulfilling our duties, and as for what the outcome will be, it’s too early to draw conclusions," he said.
As previously reported, police found a crater and scattered debris from an unidentified object near the villages of Tarnawa-Kolonia and Tokary in Poland’s Lublin province, prompting operational measures. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha subsequently confirmed that a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile crossed into Poland overnight as part of a massive Russian strike on Ukraine, violating NATO airspace. He said this "is a reminder that for our two countries there is nothing more urgent than countering our common, age-old enemy, which poses a direct threat to both our nations."
Russia carried out a massive combined attack on Ukraine overnight into Thursday. Interior Minister of Ukraine Ivan Vyhivsky said eight people were killed and more than 50 injured in the massive enemy strike on Ukraine overnight into Thursday, with people possibly still under the rubble.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk later said, commenting on the overnight violation of Polish airspace, that everything points to a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile. He said the relevant services, primarily the army and Polish pilots, acted very quickly and effectively.
Poland’s Deputy Minister of National Defense Cezary Tomczyk was the first to confirm the missile was a Kh-101, capable of carrying even nuclear warheads. He said a Ukrainian pilot tracking the last missile he was unable to shoot down turned back 20 seconds before the Polish border, as he did not have authorization to enter Polish airspace, and there was also a risk he would be shot down by a Polish F-16.
