Defence ministry reports suspected observation balloon from Belarus

An object, thought to be an observation balloon, has been detected in Polish airspace coming from the direction of Belarus, Poland's Ministry of Defence said on Saturday.

The defence ministry took to Twitter to announce the news.

"The Air Operations Centre (COP) has recorded the appearance in Polish airspace of an object which was flying from the direction of Belarus," the ministry tweeted. "According to information from COP, it is probably an observation balloon. Radar contact was lost in the vicinity of Rypin."

The tweet continued: "Operational Command took the decision to activate the duty shift of the Territorial Defence Force to search for the object."

Commenting later on the incident, Deputy Defence Minister Marcin Ociepa said: "I suppose that the object being sought in the (north-central - PAP) Kujawsko-Pomorskie province may be an observation balloon.

"Literally a couple of weeks ago we had a similar situation with a Chinese balloon in the USA, not just one," he continued. "It shows that the modus operandi has changed a little, new methods are appearing. I would treat it as an element of provocation, rather than a real gain for the Belarusians."