Russian aerostat flew over Poland for almost 5 hours

21 June, 2024 Aerostat. The photo is illustrative An aerostat flying into Polish airspace from Russian territory left it almost five hours later.

This was told in the Operational Command of the Armed Forces of Poland. According to the Polish side, on June 20, the aerostat crossed the country's border north of Ketrzyn at about 15:30 local time. According to preliminary data, the Russians lost control of one of the aerostats in the Kaliningrad region, the Polish Armed Forces said.

At the same time, the Polish military did not indicate the size of the bullet and its purpose. However, they stressed that it had been moving eastward, and its route had continuously been monitored by radar stations. The Russian aerostat left Polish airspace at about 20:00 (21:00 Kyiv).

"Given the possible negative consequences associated with the attempt to destroy [the bullet] in Polish airspace, the operational command made a conscious decision not to use weapons against the object," the reports said. They also stressed that the facility had not posed a threat to Poland's national security. In May, it became known that Russia deployed stationary aerostat in Karelia with special equipment for monitoring abroad with Finland.

The facility was identified as an AKV-05 aerostat designed to conduct reconnaissance and surveillance within a radius of 10 kilometers.

Russian AKV-05 aerostat with an optical sensors on the border with Finland, 2024.

Photo credits: "Russia 1" TV channel

Russian media said that these aerostats were used by the border service of the FSB of the Russian Federation, in particular to prevent illegal immigration.

According to the published information, the Russian reconnaissance complex includes a aerostat, a control car and a special gas filling station on an automobile chassis.