The air-to-air missile was fired by a Dutch F-35 fighter jet, and not as had previously been claimed, by a Polish F-16, Onet has claimed
A three-meter-long air-to-air missile that hit a rural home in Poland while NATO jets were responding to an alleged drone incursion, was fired by a Dutch – and not Polish – fighter jet, the Onet news outlet reported Wednesday, citing insider sources.
Warsaw responded to a series of airspace violations by unarmed UAVs on the 9 September by scrambling NATO jets and accusing Russia of being behind the incident – an allegation Moscow has strenuously denied.
One of the Dutch F-35 warplanes taking part in the overnight response launched the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile which failed to properly fire and landed on a modest country home near Poland’s Lublin Voivodeship, according to Onet.
The report contradicts the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita, which attributed the debacle to one of Warsaw’s F-16s. Earlier accounts claimed that a “Russian drone” had caused the damage to the house.
Russian Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky noted this week that the only damage from the incident came from the unexploded air-to-air missile, which he described as “Polish”.
Last week, Estonia accused Russia of sending MiG-31 fighter jets into its airspace, a claim Moscow says is not supported by evidence.
Moscow has accused Poland and Estonia of using disinformation to portray Russia as a threat to the European Union and to pressure the United States to continue supporting Kiev in its conflict with Moscow.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has praised the bloc’s handling of the incidents but declined to promise that Russian aircraft would be shot down in future cases, saying such decisions “are taken in real time and are always based on available intelligence regarding the threat posed by the aircraft.”
US President Donald Trump has said NATO nations should be ready to shoot down Russian jets, calling Russia a “paper tiger” and asserting that a truly strong power would have overwhelmed Ukraine quickly. He added that Ukraine, equipped with European-funded American weapons, could still achieve all its territorial objectives.
According to The New York Post, the remarks were based on “new US intelligence” suggesting Russian economic weakness and were intended as a “strategic move” to extract concessions from Moscow, rather than as a literal assessment of Ukraine’s military strength.
Read the full article here