Russian missile violates Polish airspace during attack in Lviv region | War in Ukraine

This Sunday, Russia launched a major air attack against energy infrastructures in the Lviv region, in western Ukraine, which led to a Russian cruise missile briefly flying over Polish airspace.

Moscow used 57 missiles and drones in a series of attacks that also targeted the capital Kiev, two days after the largest aerial bombardment of the Ukrainian energy system in more than two years of war.

“There are explosions in the capital, the anti-aircraft defense works. Don’t abandon your shelters,” wrote Kiev mayor Vitali Klichko on Telegram. According to the military administration, the anti-aircraft defense systems managed to repel the attacks.

In the attack on the Lviv region, Russia used Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, which are more difficult to shoot down, said the regional governor, Maksym Kozytskyi, who did not identify the facilities that were hit. The Ministry of Energy reported a fire at a power station that caused a power outage.

According to the Ukrainian air force, 18 of the 29 Russian missiles and 25 of the 28 drones of attack.

The Ministry of Energy also reported that Ukraine, which has been exporting energy in recent weeks, drastically increased energy imports and suspended exports this Sunday, following Friday’s attacks, which left more than a million Ukrainians without electricity.

In Kiev, several explosions were heard overnight. The head of the Ukrainian capital’s military administration, Serhiy Popko, said anti-aircraft defenses destroyed around a dozen missiles in an attack that caused only minor damage. The wreckage of a downed Kh-55 cruise missile was found in a Kiev park, authorities said.

During the attack in the Lviv region, a cruise missile briefly violated Polish airspace, according to the Polish armed forces.

“The object entered Polish airspace near the city of Oserdow and remained there for 39 seconds”, reported the operational command of the Polish armed forces via the social network X. “During the entire flight, it was observed by military radar systems”, he added.

Polish army spokesman Jacek Goryszewski told journalists that the missile traveled about 2 km through Polish airspace before re-entering Ukraine. Warsaw has already made it known that it would demand an explanation from Moscow.

A similar incident happened in December when a Russian missile entered Polish airspace and left it “a few minutes later towards Ukraine”.

In November 2022, a Ukrainian missile landed in the Polish village of Przewodow, near the border with Ukraine, killing two civilians.