NATO says no evidence of 'deliberate attack' in deadly Poland incident near Ukraine border

A missile that hit Poland was probably a stray fired by Ukraine's air defences and not a Russian strike, Poland and NATO said on Wednesday, easing global concern that the war in Ukraine could spill across borders.

North Atlantic Treaty Organizationambassadors held an emergency meeting to discuss the missile that landed on a grains facility on Tuesday, killing two people inPrzewodow.

The Brussels gathering was chaired by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who later told the media there was "no indication that this was the result of a deliberate attack." There was no evidence that Russia had launched an offensive attack on a NATO member, he said.

The initial assessments of Tuesday's deadly landing of the Soviet-era missile appeared to dial back the likelihood of the strike triggering another major escalation in the nearly nine-month-old Russian invasion of Ukraine. If Russia had deliberately targeted Poland, that could have risked drawing NATO into the conflict.

'This is not Ukraine's fault'

Stoltenberg stressed the incident was "not Ukraine's fault" and put the blame on Russia and President Vladimir Putin for creating "dangerous situations" that could have deadly consequences.

"Russia bears ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine," Stoltenbergsaid.

WATCH l NATO committed to Ukraine air defence despite apparent mishap:

NATO chief pressed on more air defence for Ukraine

2 years ago

Duration 1:40

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, responding to a Ukrainian reporter's question, says a meeting will be held today to co-ordinate NATO's layered air defence systems for Ukraine.

Hours before Stoltenberg spoke, U.S. President Joe Biden had said the trajectories suggested the missile was unlikely to have been fired from Russia.

Poland had considered initiating NATO's Article 4 procedure, but Prime Minister Mateusz Morawieckisaid on Wednesday it might not be necessary. President Andrzej Duda, speaking at the same newsconference in Warsaw, said there were no signs of an intentional attack on Poland.

"From the information that we and our allies have, it was an S-300 rocket made in the Soviet Union, an old rocket and there is no evidence that it was launched by the Russian side," Duda said. "It is highly probable that it was fired by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defence."

Three U.S. officials said preliminary assessments suggested the missile was fired by Ukrainian forces at an incoming Russian one. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

That assessmentcontradicted information earlier Tuesday from a senior U.S. intelligence official who told The Associated Press that Russian missiles crossed intoPoland.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy disputed the preliminary findings and demanded evidence. He told reporters he had "no doubts" about a report he said he had personally received from his top commanders "that it wasn't our missile or our missile strike."

'There needs to be a probe'

Ukrainian officials should have access to the site and take part in the investigation, he said.

"Let's say openly, if, God forbid, some remnant of Ukraine's air-defences killed a person, these people, then we need to
apologize. We are honest people after all. But first there needs to be a probe, access we want to get the data you have," Zelenskyy said.

On Tuesday, hehad called the strike "a very significant escalation."

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said NATO should swiftly deploy more air defences on the Polish-Ukrainian border and the rest of the alliance's eastern flank.

"I hope by next year's NATO summit in Vilnius, we will be able to make progress, as the situation confirms it is the right decision and needs swift implementation," Nauseda said.

Ground-based air defence systems such as Raytheon's Patriot units are in short supply in many Western nations, which were reluctant to invest too much money in military capabilities like these after the end of the Cold War.

Russia denies responsibility

If it had been determined that Moscow was to blame for the blast, it could have triggered NATO's principle of collective defence known as Article 5, in which an attack on one of the Western alliance's members is deemed an attack on all, starting deliberations on a potential military response.

The Article 4 procedure could be an intermediate step, providing for consultations on what to do next.

The explosion near the Ukrainian border came as Russia unleashed a wave of missiles targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure, attacks that Kyiv said were the heaviest in nearly nine months of war.

Russia on Wednesday attributed the damage to a Ukrainian air defence missileand said that Russian strikes in Ukraine had been no closer than 35 kilometres from the Polish border.

The Kremlin on Wednesday criticized how some Western leaders had responded to the incident.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia had nothing to do with the blast, and said a number of countries had made "baseless statements" about Russia's involvement.

G20 condemns war, with caveat

At the G20, leaders made a declaration on Wednesday that said "most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilitiesin the global economy."

It was approved by all members of the G20 bloc, three diplomatic sources told Reuters.

The declaration said there were "other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions."

The G20 leaders also said in the declaration that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons was "inadmissible," alluding to what Western officials have called irresponsible Russian threats of a possible nuclear option since it invaded Ukraine in February.

French President Emmanuel Macron said G20 leaders also agreed to push Russia towardde-escalation in Ukraine and expressed hope China could play a bigger mediation role in the coming months.

As a G20 member, Russia was among the attendees, although Putin did not go himself.

Ukraine works to restore electricity after missile barrage

In Ukraine, power was fully restored on Wednesday in seven regions following the previous day's assault, including inKyiv. Work to restore electricity was also underway in several other regions, said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Ukraine's presidential administration.

Tymoshenko wrote on the Telegram messaging app that emergency cut-offs were still possible, and national grid operator Ukrenergo said it was implementing planned outages across the entire country as repair work continued "around the clock."

The countrywide bombardment clouded the initial picture of what happened in Poland.

"It was a huge blast, the sound was terrifying," said Ewa Byra, the primary school director in the eastern village of Przewodow, where the missile struck. She said she knew both men who were killed one was the husband of a school employee, the other the father of a former pupil.

Another resident, 24-year-old Kinga Kancir, said the men worked at a grain-drying facility.

"It is very hard to accept," she said. "Nothing was going on and, all of a sudden, there is a world sensation."

Meanwhile, Pope Francis condemned on Wednesday the latest wave of missile attacks on Ukraine, calling for a ceasefire to avert the risk of escalation of the conflict.

"I learned with pain and concern of a fresh and even fiercer missile attack on Ukraine, which caused deaths and damage to much civilian infrastructure," Francis said in Italian at his general audience in St. Peter's Square.

A few minutes later, in other comments on Ukraine, he said, "We can pray for Ukraine saying, if you will, 'Hurry up, Lord.' "