Mr. Marshal, congratulations once again. Members of Parliament, ladies and gentlemen, I would prefer to speak to this chamber today on a different subject, as you can imagine, but for obvious reasons I owe you, the Members of Parliament, information about recent events, and above all I owe this information to Polish women and men. You know how much emotion and anxiety these events have caused.
The information I will present to you was obtained under Article 12 of the Act on the Prosecutor's Office, through the Prosecutor General, in coordination with the special services and the police leadership. The point is to provide, for reasons I hope are clear to all of you, the most accurate information possible to everyone — today in Poland everyone is interested in this matter — while at the same time not hindering in any way any operation or further proceedings by the prosecutor's office and the services.
So allow me to say exactly what, after the findings of the prosecutor's office and the special services, I can say today. First of all, perhaps the most important information: the intensive work of the services, the police and the prosecutor's office has allowed us to identify the persons responsible for the acts of sabotage. We are talking about two confirmed acts of sabotage in the village of Mika and in the area of Puławy.
In both cases we have certainty, not a suspicion, that the attempt to blow up the tracks and the damage to the railway infrastructure near Puławy were intentional acts. They had their perpetrators, and their aim was to cause a railway disaster.
Please, for just a moment — I will be speaking about matters that may be unusual for some of you, but I want to talk about serious matters that concern, if not you, then certainly the Poles. Bear with me for five minutes. Five minutes. Wait.
Little more than 70 hours have passed. The identified persons are two Ukrainian citizens who have been acting and cooperating for some time with Russian services. This is the finding of our services and the prosecutor's office, and it also results from cooperation with our allied services. Their identities have been established; at the explicit request of the prosecutor's office, I will not give you the names of these two citizens at this moment, because right now, as I speak these words, further operations are underway, and making public the name of one or the other suspect could hinder the operation. But I hope that it will be possible today, and that the operations I am speaking of will be concluded today.
Of the persons suspected by us, one is a Ukrainian citizen sentenced by a court in Lviv in May of this year for acts of sabotage on Ukrainian territory, who was staying in Belarus. The second is a resident of Donbas who also crossed from Belarus into Poland together with the first suspect this autumn, just before the attacks.
After committing the act of sabotage in the village of Mika, these persons left Polish territory through the border crossing in Terespol. This was shortly after the attack had been carried out, so they had not yet been identified by the services. Polish services and the prosecutor's office have all the data on these persons, as well as their recorded images.
The acts of sabotage took place at intervals of time. The first consisted of mounting a steel clamp on the track, which was probably intended to derail a train. This event was to be recorded by a mobile phone with a power bank mounted within the track area. This attempt, fortunately, turned out to be completely ineffective.
The second event, about which there has been so much noise in the literal sense, took place on 15 November at 20:58, as shown by the surveillance camera recording. A military-type C4 explosive charge was detonated using an initiation device through a 300-metre-long electric cable. At the scene, a certain amount of explosive material that did not detonate was also secured.
The charge exploded during the passage of a freight train on the Warsaw–Puławy route, without causing a derailment, but only minor damage to the wagon floor. The driver did not even notice the event while passing through the place. Poland is in constant contact with the special services of allied countries, and we will do everything to pursue the perpetrators of these events. Work is ongoing to identify everyone responsible for these events and their collaborators.
The first report was on Saturday, 15 November, at 21:40. It was a report from a resident living near the scene of the event in the village of Mika, who told the police that she had heard a bang. The police arrived at the property of the reporting person after 20 minutes, and on the basis of the testimony of the person who reported this alleged explosion, and following her indications, the area was searched for over an hour.
It was night, and according to the reporting person she was unable to state or suggest where this explosion had occurred. She did not even know whether it was an explosion, because she had only noted a bang. After an hour of searching the area around the property, the police discontinued further action, noting no circumstances that would have warranted other activities.
At 7:40 on Sunday, another train passing through this section of track came to a halt. The place where the explosion had been carried out had been damaged by subsequent passages, and this train — the one that stopped around 7:40 on Sunday morning — was already at risk, due to the damage to the track, of a derailment on a larger scale, but thanks to the driver's reflexes, no tragedy occurred.
At 9:43 on Sunday morning, after the police had checked the scene of the event and the driver had reported it, the state authorities who should be informed in such a situation were notified. At 9:43 I received this information as Prime Minister, as did the President, of course, and the ministers concerned by virtue of the areas they are responsible for. That is all as regards the basic facts.
At the same time, we are dealing not only with an unprecedented event. Do not be surprised that people are experiencing this so emotionally. We are all aware that an unprecedented event has taken place. This is perhaps the most serious situation today, from the point of view of the security of the Polish state, since the outbreak of the full-scale war in Ukraine. A certain line has been crossed. As you know, we inform you about this when it is justified.
Poland is the object of various types of sabotage attempts, disinformation, and sometimes kinetic actions consisting, for example, of deliberate arson. The most notorious act of such sabotage is, of course, the one in Mary Wilska. When we say that we will catch those who are responsible for this act of sabotage as well, we say so on the basis of the actions taken so far by Polish services and the Polish prosecutor's office.
I say this not because I see in it any merit of mine or of the ministers, really, but I would like everyone in this chamber, as throughout the country, to know that the police, the special services and the prosecutor's office always work in such cases with extraordinary dedication and intensity.
The first act of sabotage, which took place in Wrocław in January 2024, was built on exactly the same principle. In a moment I will say two more sentences about other events. The same modus operandi. After that event, the special services held a special briefing for the Council of Ministers. We had a special government session at which this modus operandi of Russian special services was described — one that applies not only in Poland but virtually everywhere in the world.
In Wrocław it was an attempt to set fire to a paint warehouse. A Ukrainian living permanently in Germany, recruited by Russian services for money, was caught. The attack was foiled; the person is convicted and in prison.
In total, regarding acts of sabotage, we have detained 55 people in Poland so far, including 23 arrested. These are persons convicted for attempts and for assistance. 28 were deported to the front — that is, when, in accordance with this Russian model of action, when they are Ukrainian citizens, they are deported to Ukraine and there, by the Ukrainian authorities, sent to the front.
Recently we also detained eight people for attempts to reconnoitre various critical facilities. And in all these cases we have the qualification under Article 30 — cooperation with foreign services — and in all these cases we identify Russian services as the ones commissioning these tasks, both acts of sabotage and acts of espionage.
I receive from my partners in Europe — recently in Moldova, Romania, Great Britain, Germany — exactly the same signals about exactly the same method of action. Whether these are such spectacular acts as the attempt on the life of the British Prime Minister: a few months ago incendiary bombs were placed under the private home of the British Prime Minister. At that time his closest family was there, and two Ukrainians recruited by Russian services were arrested.
As I already said, in Wrocław, in Romania, in Moldova, persons suspected of attempts — not yet an attack, but attempts at such actions that caused great concern, because these persons were equipped with explosive charges and claimed to have come from Poland — were detained. We have cases of this type, attacks on life, as in Germany, where this model is always very similar: citizens of other states, most often Ukraine, are hired.
In this specific case, concerning Mika and Puławy, as I said, one was indicated in Lviv for acts of sabotage, the other is a resident of Donbas, an employee of the local prosecutor's office, who also fled to Belarus. We are dealing almost always with the same model. Rarely — although among those detained there is one Russian citizen — does Russia directly reveal its intentions by employing its own citizens in this type of action.
I want to emphasize that I instructed Prime Minister Gałkowski, as the minister responsible for cybersecurity, to also monitor what is happening online. Today we are dealing in Poland with an act of sabotage whose consequence could have been — and here the perpetrators' mistake also helped us — a serious disaster with casualties. That is why I say that a certain line has been crossed and that this matter is really very, very serious.
I want to emphasize that what matters to the Russian authorities is not only the direct effect of this type of action, but also the social and political consequences of the fact that such an action takes place. That is, of course, disorganization, chaos, panic, speculation, uncertainty — that is one effect. And the second is, of course, stirring up, as far as possible, radically anti-Ukrainian sentiments.
This is particularly dangerous in countries like Poland, where we already carry enough burdens from the fact that we host over a million Ukrainian refugees, and it is well known that, for understandable reasons, it is increasingly easy to stir up anti-Ukrainian sentiments, because Polish citizens more and more often bear the burdens resulting from hosting such a large number of refugees and immigrants.
It is worth being aware that, from the point of view of Russian interests, stirring up radically anti-Ukrainian emotions and disinformation of the type that Ukrainian drones are attacking Poland now, that Ukrainians are blowing up trains, has a double value from the point of view of Russian services. I think I do not need to explain this to anyone, regardless of what views people in this chamber and in Poland — ladies and gentlemen, Members of Parliament, citizens — hold on Russia, Ukraine, politics, or the government. That does not matter.
We really all — and it takes only a little common sense — are able to define it. We are all able to define the aggressive Russian political and military interest, which is aimed, for obvious reasons, simultaneously at Ukraine, at Poland, and at the entire West.
That is why I very much ask that, in this matter, in such important matters as terrorist attacks and acts of sabotage, you try above all to respect the communications. I have committed the prosecutor's office and the special services — that is, through the Prosecutor General, the Minister of Justice — to pass on to the public immediately everything possible that does not hinder their actions and operations, so that public opinion in Poland does not fall prey to speculation and rumours, and above all does not fall prey to disinformation coordinated from the East, because we are witnessing this today on a large scale.
That is why I turned to Prime Minister Gałkowski to monitor and report on how the situation looks online regarding information and disinformation concerning these specific events.
Listen, please, just say nothing more about someone wanting to wiretap someone. You are the last ones who should be speaking out on this matter. Perhaps you would like to make an appointment with my family about this.
I am really surprised at you. The head of the Internal Security Agency and the Minister of the Interior and Administration, after obtaining the opinion of the team for counter-terrorism threats, jointly requested that I introduce the third alert level, Charlie, in connection with terrorist threats. Certain railway lines will be covered by this level. In the rest of the country, the second alert level will remain in force as before. Today I will issue the appropriate ordinance on this matter under the acts on counter-terrorism actions.
I also turned to the Minister of Foreign Affairs to take immediate diplomatic action in order to have the suspects in the terrorist attack handed over to Poland — both to the Belarusian authorities and to the Russian authorities — but we will also take other actions that, I hope, will lead to the swift apprehension of the perpetrators and their collaborators. We have also informed our partners and allied services of all the details of the operation of which Poland was to become the victim.
As regards the involvement of the army, in agreement with Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz and the Chief of the General Staff, General Kukuła, we are working on the most effective, sensible and efficient use of the army to secure critical infrastructure, including railway infrastructure, when the need arises. Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz will inform you of the decisions in this matter in the coming hours.
Absolutely, the most important thing from our point of view is the safety of Polish women and men. I would like you to be aware that we are dealing with dozens of attempts — simulated, fake or genuine — from anonymous phone calls about planted explosive charges. A traditional method. It recurs with regularity; there is hardly a week without this type of false bomb alarm.
But also, as I have already informed you earlier, for example, strange, disturbing, suspicious actions and behaviour concerning, for example, water and sewage installations in some cities. We always act really quickly. I am speaking here not about the services. As you know, this war has been going on for years. These acts of sabotage and the actions of Russian services throughout Europe, not only in Poland, are unfortunately gaining momentum. We are dealing with an escalation.
And fortunately I can say that to this day in Poland we have not recorded a single casualty. Not a single casualty.
That is why I once again very much ask all citizens, women and men, but also ladies and gentlemen Members of Parliament, that in these critical moments we support with all our strength the actions of the Polish services and the Polish prosecutor's office, the Polish police, the Polish army when necessary, and that in this matter — the physical safety of Polish women and men and the security of the Polish state in its most concrete dimension — regardless of emotions and political conflicts, we look for what unites and support the Polish state, not Tusk, not Kosiniak-Kamysz, not Sikorski, but the Polish state in its actions against saboteurs, Russian services and other forms of aggression directed against our security and our interests.
I count on common sense and a basic patriotism, regardless of which side of the chamber in our Sejm you are sitting on. Thank you very much.
