Poland says no clear evidence of who fired missile, but ‘most probably Russian-made’
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Damages after a rocket explosion in Przewodow, a village in eastern Poland near the border with Ukraine.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WARSAW, Poland – Poland’s President said on Wednesday there was no clear evidence of who fired the missile that killed two people in a Polish village
“We do not, for the moment, have unequivocal evidence of who fired the missile. An investigation is ongoing. It was most probably Russian-made,” President Andrzej Duda told reporters.
He also said it was “highly likely” that Poland’s ambassador to Nato will request urgent consultations under Article 4 at a meeting with other alliance ambassadors in Brussels on Wednesday.
Article 4 of the Nato treaty states that consultations can be called when any Nato member feels its “territorial integrity, political independence or security” is at risk.
Poland’s foreign ministry earlier said the missile was Russian-made.
“A Russian-made missile fell, killing two citizens of the Republic of Poland,” the ministry’s spokesman, Mr Lukasz Jasina, said in a statement. He said the Russian ambassador to Poland was summoned to give “immediate detailed explanations”.
In Kyiv, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said allegations that one of Ukraine’s missiles landed in Poland were a “conspiracy theory”.
“Russia now promotes a conspiracy theory that it was allegedly a missile of Ukrainian air defence that fell on the territory of Poland. Which is not true. No one should buy Russian propaganda or amplify its messages,” he said in a Twitter post.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address the strike in Poland proves that Russian terrorism is not limited to Ukraine, without offering evidence of such an attack.
“How many times has Ukraine said that the terrorist state will not stop on our country? Poland, the Baltic states – it’s only a matter of time before Russian terror goes further,” he said.
The Russian-appointed head of the Donetsk region of Ukraine, which is controlled by Russian forces, earlier described reports that a Russian missile landed in Poland as a “provocation” orchestrated by Kyiv.
“The situation with Poland is just a provocation, an attempt by the Kyiv regime to draw additional forces into the conflict,” Mr Denis Pushilin said on social media.
Russia’s Defence Ministry also dismissed reports Russia’s missiles landed on Polish territory.
It said Russia did not aim weapons near the Ukrainian-Polish border, insisting the debris shown in media reports did not match Russian weapons.
This comes as Nato said it will hold an emergency meeting of its ambassadors on Wednesday to discuss the events in Poland.
The White House, meanwhile, said United States President Joe Biden spoke with Mr Duda and offered American assistance in the investigation.
Mr Biden “expressed deep condolences for the loss of life in eastern Poland”, according to a White House account of the conversation. He offered Poland “full US support for and assistance” with the investigation into the explosion.
Mr Biden also spoke with Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
Poland is considering invoking Article 4 of the Nato treaty, under which member states can consult with their allies in the military alliance to raise any issue of concern related to national security before taking any action. AFP, BLOOMBERG
