A missile that hit Poland on Tuesday evening was fired by Ukrainian forces in their attempts to shoot down an incoming Russian projectile, US officials have been quoted as saying.
Three US officials, who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity, said preliminary assessments suggested the missile was fired by Ukrainian forces during the Russian bombardment on energy infrastructure across Ukraine.
Polish officials said earlier that a “Russian-made missile” landed in a grain store in Przewodow, Lublin, about 6 km from the border with Ukraine.
Ukraine continues to maintain stocks of former Soviet and Russian-made weaponry, including the S-300 air-defense missile system.
The explosion within the borders of Nato-member state Poland killed two people, sparking an investigation and emergency meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) members who were in Indonesia.
US president Joe Biden, who is in Bali attending the G20 summit, said it was “unlikely” that the missile was fired from Russia, but promised to support Warsaw’s investigation into the incident and also described the missile as “Russian-made”.
“There is preliminary information that contests that,” Mr Biden told reporters when asked if Russia fired the missile. “It is unlikely in the lines of the trajectory that it was fired from Russia, but we’ll see.”
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of carrying out the attack on a Nato member, calling it a “significant escalation” of the conflict as dozens more missiles fired by Moscow caused destruction and power outages across Ukraine.
Soon after the attack, Russia’s ambassador to Warsaw was summoned for “immediate detailed explanations”.
Russia has denied the allegations against it and accused Polish media and officials of causing “a deliberate provocation aimed at escalating the situation”.
Russian state news agency Ria Novosti said the blast was caused by Ukrainian missiles that had hit Polish territory.
The incident comes as the US and other Nato members have warned Russia against striking member states of the alliance. Under Article 5 of the alliance’s treaty, the Nato members are committed to collective defence in event of a strike on any one member.
The incident is an attempt to provoke a direct clash between Russia and Nato, the head of the permanent mission of Russia to the United Nations said on Wednesday.
“There is an attempt to provoke a direct military clash between Nato and Russia, with all the consequences for the world,” Dmitry Polyansky said on his Telegram channel.
Mr Biden, who called Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure on Tuesday “barbaric”, convened an emergency roundtable meeting of several leaders who were gathered in Bali for the G20.
Leaders from Nato members Germany, Canada, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France and Britain attended, as well as non-Nato member Japan and representatives from the European Union.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the president of Turkey – a Nato member and ally of Moscow – said he respects the declaration made by Russia on the missile attack.
Polish president Andrzej Duda was more cautious in his approach, saying: “We do not have any conclusive evidence at the moment as to who launched this missile ... it was most likely a Russian-made missile, but this is all still under investigation at the moment.”
Mr Duda said that it was very likely that Poland would request consultations under Article 4 of the Nato military alliance following the blast.
“Our ambassador will be attending the meeting of the North Atlantic Council tomorrow at 10am at Nato headquarters ... it is highly likely that the ambassador will request the activation of Article 4, or allied consultations,” he said.
Poland said it is on alert following the missile attack, increasing the “readiness” of some military units and aerial surveillance.
