A deadly blast in Poland that sparked fears of a dramatic escalation in Vladimir Putin’s war likely caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile, Nato’s secretary-general said on Wednesday.
However Jens Stoltenberg said Russia was ultimately responsible because it started the war.
“An investigation into this incident is ongoing and we need to await its outcome. But we have no indication that this was the result of a deliberate attack and we have no indication that Russia is preparing offensive military actions against Nato,” he told reporters.
“Our preliminary analysis suggests that the incident was likely caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile fired to defend Ukrainian territory against Russian cruise missile attacks.”
His comments followed an emergency meeting of Nato ambassadors.
“Let me be clear, this is not Ukraine's fault,” said.
“Russia bears responsibility for what happened in Poland yesterday, because this is a direct result of the ongoing war and a wave of attacks from Russia against Ukraine yesterday.”
Earlier, Polish President Andrzej Duda said the missile strike that killed two people in Przewodow, a village about 6 km (4 miles) from the border with Ukraine, appears to be an “unfortunate accident” and not an “intentional attack”.
Their comments have eased fears that the explosion at a grain facility could cause the Ukraine war to spill over into a much wider conflict.
Within hours of the blast, US President Joe Biden convened an emergency meeting of several leaders gathered in Bali, Indonesia, for a G20 summit to discuss the incident.
Leaders from Nato members Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Netherlands, Spain and Italy attended, as well as non-Nato member Japan and representatives from the European Union.
Asked if it was too early to say if the missile was fired from Russia, Mr Biden said: “There is preliminary information that contests that. I don’t want to say that until we completely investigate it, but it is unlikely in the lines of the trajectory that it was fired from Russia but we’ll see.”
Three US officials told the Associated Press that preliminary assessments suggested the missile was fired by Ukrainian forces at an incoming Russian missile amid a huge wave of attacks.
Ukraine still maintains stocks of former Soviet and Russian-made weaponry, including the S-300 air-defense missile system
At least one independent expert also suggested the missile had come from a Ukrainian air defence unit.
But confusion remained with AP having earlier cited a senior US intelligence official as saying the blast was due to Russian missiles.
Moscow has strongly denied Russian forces fired the missile.
Mr Duda it is “highly probable” that the missile was “fired by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defence.”
“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,” he said.
If it does turn out it that it came from a Ukrainian defence unit, it would hand the Kremlin a victory in the information war and leave Kyiv having to explain why it had so swiftly accused Russia of being behind the strike.
But the incident would not have happened if Mr Putin’s army had not unleashed a wave of around 90 missiles at infrastructure, civilian and other sites on Tuesday after his humiliating retreat from Kherson in the south of the country.
Kyiv said the attacks were the heaviest in nearly nine months of war.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian missiles hit Poland in a “significant escalation” of the conflict.
But he did not provide evidence of Russia’s involvement.
“All of Europe and the world must be fully protected from terrorist Russia,” he said in a tweet after a phone call with Mr Duda.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Poland was increasing the readiness of some military units, and called on all Poles to remain calm.
Mr Biden told Mr Duda in a call that Washington has an “ironclad commitment to Nato” and will support Poland’s investigation, the White House said.
The State Department described the earlier report that it could have been a Russian missile as “incredibly concerning”.
Other Western allies said they were monitoring the situation, and urgently assessing information.
“We are urgently looking into reports of missiles landing in Poland, and are in contact with our Polish friends and NATO allies,” Britain’s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Tuesday night.
Latvian Deputy Prime Minister Artis Pabriks said the situation was “unacceptable” and it could lead to NATO providing more anti-aircraft defences to Poland and Ukraine.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Twitter: “Every inch of #NATO territory must be defended!”
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said Kyiv had warned of the danger Russian missiles posed to neighbouring countries and called for a no-fly zone to be imposed.
“We were asking to close the sky, because sky has no borders. Not for uncontrolled missiles. Not for the threat they carry for our EU & NATO neighbours. Gloves are off. Time to win,” he said in a Twitter post.
Meantime, leaders of the G20 major economies issued a declaration on Wednesday saying they “deplore in the strongest terms” Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. It said most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine but added that there were other views within the group.
After meeting Mr Biden in the sidelines of the G20 meeting, Rishi Sunak, who had been woken at 5am to be told about the Poland missile strike, tweeted on Wednesday: “Positive meeting with @POTUS (President of the United States) today, our strong relationship is important for international challenges the world is facing.
“We will work together, and with allies, to address the economic consequences of Putin’s brutality.”
