Poland continues to search for alleged Shahed drone that entered country's airspace on 26 August

On Monday evening, the eighth day of the search for an unidentified aerial object that flew into Poland and disappeared from radar in Tyszowce gmina (Lublin Voivodeship) ended. The search will continue on Tuesday.

As reported by RMF24, major Ewa Złotnicka, the deputy spokesperson for the Operational Command of the Armed Forces, said that on Monday, about 150 soldiers of the Territorial Defence Forces were searching for an unidentified aerial object.

"The eighth day of the search ended with a negative result. Nothing was found. The operational commander decided to continue the ground search on Tuesday," Ewa Złotnicka said.

Since last Monday, soldiers from the 19th Nadbujańska Territorial Defence Brigade and the 2nd Lublin Territorial Defence Brigade, supported by mounted units and an unmanned aerial vehicle, have been checking the areas in Tomaszów, Hrubieszów and Zamość districts.

On Thursday, General Maciej Klisz, the Polish Armed Forces Operational Command commander, announced that military helicopters had fully examined the area of the alleged crash site and decided to suspend the search using them. He also decided that the ground search for the object would continue at least until 2 September.

Following a large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine on the morning of 26 August, Poland reported that its airspace had been violated by an "aerial object", likely a kamikaze drone. Debris from the drone has yet to be found.

General Maciej Klisz said that judging by its trajectory, speed, and altitude, the object was definitely not a missile and was most likely a drone. 

The Polish media, citing army sources, reported that they were tending to believe that it was a Shahed and that it had been in the country's airspace for at least 33 minutes.