Unidentified object from Belarus lands in Poland

An unidentified object with Cyrillic writing initially thought to be a balloon, fell a few metres from the Belarusian border in another incident of this kind in recent months.

The object, found on Saturday morning by a farmer in the village of Kamionka Stara in north-eastern Poland, was handed over to specialist services, which confirmed that it did not contain any harmful substances or was damaged.

“Everything indicates that the object found near the town of Kamionka Stara is a weather balloon,” said Polish Interior Ministry spokesman Jacek Dobrzyński.

He added that weather balloons most likely have their “flight path” in the area, which is why a similar object was found there about two weeks ago.

The police have not yet confirmed the ministry’s statement, but they suspect the object may have been a smuggled balloon from Belarus.

The fall of the suspected balloon is another in a series of incidents involving foreign objects entering Polish airspace or falling on Polish soil. Last month, another unidentified object, possibly a drone, was recorded in Polish skies, but the military refrained from shooting it down as it was unable to identify it.

In peacetime, the military must verify an object before shooting it down to avoid accidentally hitting civilian objects, it explained.

Nevertheless, the army’s response has sparked a major debate in Poland about whether objects entering Polish airspace should be identified first or shot down immediately, even if there is a risk that they may be civilians.

Almost 60% of Poles believe that the military should shoot down objects entering Polish skies, even if it is not entirely clear whether they are military or civilian. Some 22% disagree, according to the poll conducted by SW Research for the Rzeczpospolita daily.

Last week, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski suggested that Poland should shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine to prevent them from entering Polish airspace, although NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has ruled out such involvement as it could mean direct involvement in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)