A Russian KH-55 missile flew halfway across Poland before landing 12 kilometers outside Bydgoszcz~, a city of over 300,000 people that is home to five NATO battalions and the Joint Forces Training Center. Nitro-Chem, NATO’s largest TNT production, is located in adjacent Belma. The Russian missile, which was meant to carry a nuclear payload of up to 200 kilotons – 13 times the size of the Hiroshima bomb – was six meters long and weighed 1.7 tons. Fortunately, it does not appear to have been armed.
The public fighting among Poland’s top military and civilian authorities must have pleased the Kremlin. Unfortunately, such infighting and backstabbing has typified the Law and Justice (PiS) government during the last six years. Worse, Onet.pl, one of Poland’s most major news channels, has confirmed with three sources that Bazczak is lying about what he knew and when he knew it. On December 16, the Air Operations Center notified Piotrowski of the incident, and he immediately requested a patrol of Polish F-16 and American F-35 fighter jets. He also alerted Andrzejczak, who told his immediate supervisor, the defense minister. Baszczak then chose to keep the incident private in order to avoid public scrutiny. He deployed merely a police patrol rather than army men, to search the place.
Because of Bazczak’s cover-up, regular citizens were never informed. What if the horseback rider or someone else happened to come across an armed – or perhaps nuclear-armed – warhead? What if it had exploded? We’d be dealing with Russian aggression against a NATO member. Despite this, the Polish government has not even discussed the issue with Russia or summoned the Russian ambassador. It is no secret that Baszczak has long desired to get rid of the two generals, despite the fact that both are highly valued by NATO. According to Onet.pl, in 2021, Baszczak requested that the president remove Andrzejczak from his position due to Andrzejczak’s involvement in a military exercise that resulted in the Polish military being defeated. The army has been defeated by Russia. According to Onet.pl sources, this outcome was meant to undermine Andrzejczak. However, the supposed plot failed. When Andrzejczak offered to quit, Duda turned him down.
The missile incident has now prompted more questions and worries. “If the military informed the minister about the missile as early as December 16, why did they accept the decision not to look for it?” said one of Poland’s leading aviation-disaster experts. Were they terrified of the reaction of the Minister of Defense’s head? If this is the case, it signifies that the ruling party has caused a total collapse in the army because officers lack the courage to do what they should.”
Concerns have been raised about the effectiveness of Poland’s air defenses. Baszczak tweeted in October, “We have built a multi-layered air-defense system.” Pioruns, Pilica sets, Little Narews, and Patriots are available. Our skies are safe thanks to the efforts of the PiS government.” Was he lying again?
A month before the Russian KH-55 arrived in Poland, a stray Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile murdered two persons in Przewodów. Germany offered Poland a battery of Patriot surface-to-air missiles at the time, but Morawiecki’s anti-German administration declined. It also declined to join a coalition suggested by Germany to construct a joint air-defense system encompassing 15 European countries, despite the fact that Poland’s skies are the most vulnerable. Following the latest findings, Poland’s vulnerability has increased. A defense minister who is distrusted by the military and the president, and who lies about an incident with grave national-security ramifications, would be fired in any normal democracy. But Poland is not a normal country, and Bazczak is a member of PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczyski’s trusted inner circle. He will not be removed from his position, leaving Poland with unsafe skies and a defense ministry at odds with its own troops.
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