On the night of July 30, russia launched yet another massive combined strike aimed at terrorizing Ukrainian cities. Unlike previous attacks, which primarily targeted Kyiv with ballistic and hypersonic missiles, this latest assault also featured cruise missiles, with strikes extending into western Ukraine.
Once again, at least one russian missile entered Polish airspace. According to the Polish Air Force, at approximately 3:40 a.m. local time (4:40 a.m. Kyiv time), an unidentified object moving westward was detected in Polish airspace. An F-16 was sent to intercept it.
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Six minutes later, at 3:46 a.m., before the object could be clearly identified, it disappeared from the radar screens. The crew of the helicopter dispatched to the area located the site near the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia in Lublin Voivodeship.
The missile left behind a 10-meter-wide crater. The distance from the site of the explosion to the nearest residential buildings is approximately two km.
It was likely an air-launched cruise missile fired by a russian Tu-160 or Tu-95MS strategic bomber. This was reported by unofficial air target trackers, including Monitorwar, which indicated that one of the Kh-101 cruise missiles had crossed into Polish airspace near the city of Volodymyr in Ukraine's Volyn Oblast.
It then continued for another 100 kilometers or so before crashing into a field in a relatively sparsely populated area.
This attack did not come as a surprise to Poland. The country's air force stated that a pair of fighter jets and an AEW&C aircraft had been scrambled in advance. As noted, the missiles were being tracked while they were still in Ukrainian airspace.
However, the Polish Air Force failed to intercept this missile. One possible reason was the limited time available to the Polish military. After all, flying at approximately 900 km/h, a Kh-101 can cover 100 kilometers in less than seven minutes.
However, if F-16s were already on patrol and the threat could be anticipated, the likely issue lay in the decision-making process and the rules of engagement, which require a target to be visually identified and authorization to be obtained before it can be engaged.
At the same time, approximately 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border are three major Polish cities—Chełm, Zamość, and Lublin. The russian cruise missile flew this distance through the airspace of a NATO country without encountering any obstacles.
Moreover, about 50 kilometers southwest of the missile's impact site lies Stalowa Wola, a major center of Poland's defense industry and armored vehicle production.
It should be noted that the Ukrainian Air Force reported successfully shooting down 54 out of 61 cruise missiles. In addition, 265 out of 284 long-range drones of various types were neutralized. The enemy also used four Zircon or Oniks anti-ship missiles and nine ballistic missiles to strike Ukrainian cities. One of the ballistic missiles was intercepted.
russian missiles that could not be intercepted struck residential buildings. According to information available at the time of publication, russians killed eight people, and dozens more were injured. In Kryvyi Rih, a ballistic missile struck a residential neighborhood, killing six people, including two girls aged five and 12, and injuring eight others. In Lviv, a high-rise building was hit. Efforts to clear the rubble and rescue those trapped are ongoing, and the number of casualties is expected to rise.
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