Poland Investigates ‘Remains of Aerial Military Object’ Found in Woods

WISZTYNIEC, WARMIAN-MASURIAN, POLAND - 2022/11/03: A Polish soldier seen working at the co
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Oliver JJ Lane

Poland is investigating the remains of a presumably-crashed “aerial military object” in a forest in the centre of the country which local media claims has Russian inscriptions.

A party of Sappers — military engineers — supported by police deployed to a forest near Zamosc, about ten miles from the city of Bydgoszcz and 120 miles south-west from the major coastal city of Gdansk. In a central region of Poland called the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship or Province, the presumed crash site is a considerable distance from the Ukrainian border, about 350 miles.

Polish justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro revealed in the early hours of Thursday morning that “military experts” including engineers and the army counterintelligence service under the supervision of the National Prosecutor’s Office were investigating “the remains of an aerial military object found in a forest”. The Polish Ministry of Defence said in a statement the “object” posed no threat to the safety of locals.

According to Poland’s TVN24, a major national broadcaster, there has been activity in the woods near Zamosc since Tuesday, but no information about what had been found in the area had been forthcoming until now. A reporter for the broadcaster reports that while the area of the “aerial military object” is presently strictly off limits to civilians, his team had been able to view it earlier and said they had witnessed “a circle of sand several meters in diameter” where the investigation had started, but that officers had started to search the rest of the forest.

Reportedly, the object was discovered by walkers and may have been in the woods for some time.

No further information on the nature of this object has yet been released, but Polish broadcasters and publications are reporting their own information, including claims the “object” is in fact a Russian missile.

RMF24 cites their own sources to state that an “air-to-surface missile… several meters long is stuck in the ground” but that earlier information had indicated a crashed drone. In either case, the fallen equipment has writing in Russian on it, the broadcaster claimed.

This does not necessarily indicate a Russian attack, or even that the missile was launched by Russia. As former Soviet bloc nations, both Poland and Ukraine still use ex-Russian equipment including missiles in their own militaries. Ukraine’s air defence system is predominantly Russian-designed and built, and Poland still flies Soviet-era fighter jets which drop Russian-made weapons.

Given that Ukrainian pilots are said to be now training in Poland, a training accident is possible, but may not go all the way to explain the involvement of the national prosecutor’s office investigating under the criminal code articles pertaining to risking the lives of others from events including fire, collapse of buildings, explosives, and “sudden release of nuclear energy”.

Poland’s ESKA Radio reports locals spotted a fast-moving object over the town Bydgoszcz on Monday which was also caught on a security camera. Referring to the “weird video” and “unusual phenomenon”, the broadcaster noted claims by witnesses that the fast-moving object made no sound and had no wings.

The investigation bears resemblance to other recent events including the death of two villagers in Eastern Poland who were killed when a stray missile from the Ukraine war landed on their farm. When the missile was identified as being Russian-made, the explosion was briefly treated as a major escalation of the war and a potential violation of a NATO nation by the Russian Federation. After it was discovered to have actually been fired by the Ukrainians and that it ended up in Poland by accident, the fatal strike seemed to have been forgiven and forgotten.

Russia also discovered an unexpected flying object in their forests this week, they claimed, stating that a bomb-laden Ukrainian drone had been found crashed amid trees just 19 miles from Moscow.

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