Polish army securing a large crater in Tarnawa-Kolonia, eastern Poland

AFP | Athens

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Poland said yesterday that a missile that blasted a 10-metre (33 feet) crater inside its territory was likely fired by Russia in its latest mass attack on Ukraine.

NATO and European leaders openly blamed Russia for the 4:00 am (0200 GMT) explosion in a field that shook residents of the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia, 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the border, and the windows of their homes.

The massive hole and debris were found in a field two kilometers away, police said.

"From the analysis of most of the traces, the recovered fragments point to a Russian Kh-101 missile," Prime Minister Donald Tusk told a news conference near the crater.

"There is no reason to think that Poland was the target," he said, but added that two "objects" had violated Poland's airspace.

"One of them definitely did, because we have its traces here, and the other was near the Polish border, but it was a very brief signal, so there were no consequences associated with it."

Poland -- a member of NATO and the European Union -- has experienced repeat incursions by missiles and drones during Russia's war on Ukraine since 2022.

The latest missile fell as Russia staged a massive deadly attack on the Lviv region in western Ukraine, near the border with Poland.

Tusk chaired a crisis unit meeting with Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz and Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski in Lublin, the nearest city to the village.