Poland backs off claim drone violated airspace during Russian attack on Ukraine

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland backed away on Thursday from earlier claims that a drone had likely entered its airspace during a Russian attack on Ukraine in August, after a 10-day analysis and search for the object produced no results.

The NATO-member has been on high alert for possible incursions on its airspace resulting from Russian attacks on neighbouring Ukraine, and the announcement that an object thought to be a drone appeared on radars on Aug. 26 raised questions as to why it had not been shot down.

At the time the army said that weather conditions meant the object couldn't be identified with complete certainty, meaning that shooting it down could have risked hitting a civilian target such as a light aircraft.

However, after an extensive search failed to find any trace of a Russian drone, General Maciej Klisz, head of the Polish army's operational command, said that he believed the airspace had not been violated.

"As a result of the analytical activities undertaken, I currently state that with a very high probability there was no violation of the airspace of the Republic of Poland on Aug. 26," he told reporters.

He said, however, that violations of air space were likely to happen again during Russian attacks on Ukraine.

A stray Ukrainian missile struck the southern Polish village of Przewodow in 2022, killing two people.

In December 2023, Poland said a Russian missile had entered its airspace. In April 2023, a military object was found in a forest close to the village of Zamosc near the northern city of Bydgoszcz. It was later reported to be a Russian missile.

Also in March this year Poland said Russia had violated its airspace with a cruise missile launched at targets in western Ukraine.

(Reporting by Barbara Erling; Writing by Alan Charlish; Editing by William Maclean and Peter Graff)