WARSAW

Russia may have deliberately fired a missile into NATO member Poland's airspace in a weekend test of the country and alliance's defenses, according to a Polish general said.

"Such situations may be deliberately provoked by the enemy in order to test the Polish air defense system," Stanislaw Koziej said in an interview with Polish Press Agency (PAP) on Monday.

Poland's Armed Forces Operational Command (RSZ) said Sunday that its forces had been put on a heightened state of readiness after "intensive long-range aviation activity of the Russian Federation" and missile attacks in Ukraine. The RSZ said Russia had violated Poland's airspace with a cruise missile that entered Polish air space near Oserdow, in the eastern Lublin region, for 39 seconds.

"You never know what a rocket like that can do," Koziej said. "All the more so because they are often dual-purpose missiles that can carry a nuclear charge," the former head of Poland's National Security Bureau added.

"Moreover, the Russians may want to use the border airspace, while also violating the Polish border, to attack Ukrainian objects with cruise missiles from the west, where air defense is probably weaker," he said in the interview.

"The situation now requires very decisive actions. In my opinion, the only remedy to protect Polish airspace and Polish territory against this type of event is the establishment by NATO of an anti-missile defense zone extended in front of the Polish border, over the territory of Ukraine," he added.