The warhead of a Russian missile that crashed in north-central Poland has been found, a presidential aide has said.

In late April, the Defence Ministry announced that the remains of an unidentified military object had been found 15 kilometres from the Polish north-central city of Bydgoszcz. It is suspected it was a Russian missile that crashed into a forest near the city in December last year.

Pawel Szrot told on Friday that the missile’s warhead had just been recovered.

„When it comes to the warhead, I can say it has been found and is now being analysed by the relevant institutions… It is a special warhead as it is made of - in line with Russian innovative technology - concrete,” Szrot said.

„I assume that it was fitted on the missile in this form so that this older model of the rocket could confuse the Ukrainian air defence,” Szrot said, adding that this type of missile could not be fired without a warhead, so someone just filled it with concrete.

Szrot said that the case called for improving Polish defence procedures, referring to apparent failings in communication between military commanders and top government figures and late reporting of the incident. (PAP)

jd/md