Closing summary
It’s almost 9pm in Kyiv and Moscow. Here’s where things stand:
Nato allies met in Brussels to discuss their reactions after a missile fell, on Tuesday, on the Polish village of Przewodów, near the Ukrainian border, killing two people. The incident is the first time that the territory of a Nato country has been struck during the near-nine-month Ukraine war.
Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, has said there is no evidence to suggest the missile strike on Przewodów was an intentional attack or was launched by Russia. Duda said there were “many indications” that the missile was fired as part of Ukraine’s air defences and “unfortunately fell on Polish territory”. Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, told the Polish parliament that it was possible the incident was the result of a provocation from the Russian side.
Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, confirmed that initial analysis suggested the incident was “likely caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile fired to defend Ukrainian territory” against Russian cruise missile attacks. “Let me be clear: this is not Ukraine’s fault,” he added. “Russia bears the ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine.”
The US president, Joe Biden, also said the missile was unlikely to have been fired from Russia due to its trajectory. Biden’s defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said the US had not seen anything that contradicted Poland’s preliminary assessment that Tuesday evening’s missile was the result of a Ukrainian air defence missile.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said he is convinced that the missile was not Ukrainian. Speaking to reporters, Zelenskiy said he had received reports from the command of Ukraine’s armed forces and air force and “cannot but trust them”.
Ukraine is requesting “immediate access” to the site of the explosion in eastern Poland, a senior Ukrainian defence official said. Oleksiy Danilov said Ukraine wanted a “joint study” of Tuesday’s incident with its partners. Duda said both Poland and the US would have to agree before Ukraine could take part in the investigation.
The Russian defence ministry has claimed that, on Tuesday, it had not targeted anywhere within 35km (22 miles) of the Ukraine-Poland border. In a statement reported by Tass, the ministry said statements about “Russian missiles” falling in Przewodów were “a deliberate provocation with the aim of escalating the situation”. The Russian ministry claimed to have identified the wreckage as a Ukrainian S-300 from photographs.
The UK’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has blamed Vladimir Putin’s “cruel and unrelenting” war for destabilising the world economy, while calling for Nato allies to wait for the results of “a full investigation into the circumstances behind missiles falling in Poland yesterday”. The British PM and his Canadian counterpart, Justin Trudeau, spoke with Zelenskiy and said in a readout afterwards that “whatever the outcome of that investigation [into the explosion in Poland], Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is squarely to blame for the ongoing violence”.
Former Russian president and hawkish long-term ally of Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, has said that the explosion on Polish territory showed the west was moving closer to another world war. “The incident with the Ukrainian-alleged ‘missile strike’ on a Polish farm proves just one thing: waging a hybrid war against Russia, the west moves closer to world war,” Medvedev wrote on Twitter.
A vital deal allowing Russian and Ukrainian wheat and fertilisers to be exported through the Black Sea is expected to continue, according to the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The deal was scheduled to expire on Saturday but Erdoğan said he was confident the deal was going to be renewed for a year, bringing relief to some of the poorest countries in the world.
A draft declaration from G20 leaders said “most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine”, and demanded Russia’s “complete and unconditional withdrawal” from its neighbour’s territory. The reference to war is a rejection of Russia’s claim that it is involved in a “special military operation”. But it also said “there were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions”, reflecting the divisions among G20 states over Russia.
Russia’s foreign ministry said it had banned entry to more than 50 Irish politicians as a result of western sanctions over Ukraine. Among those listed include Ireland’s prime minister, Micheál Martin, the deputy prime minister, Leo Varadkar, and the foreign, justice and finance ministers.
Ukrainian investigators have uncovered a claimed “torture room” in Kherson city where dozens of men were allegedly detained, electrocuted, beaten and some of them killed. Police said Russian soldiers took over the juvenile detention centre in around mid-March and turned it into a prison for men who refused to collaborate with them or who were accused of partisan activity.
Britain will have to tackle Russian aggression for years to come, said the MI5 chief, Ken McCallum, in his annual threat update. He added that his agency had blocked more than 100 attempts by the Kremlin to insert suspected spies into the UK since the Salisbury poisonings.
Updated
The head of Poland’s national security bureau, Jacek Siewiera, has tweeted a photo showing President Andrzej Duda meeting with the US central intelligence agency chief William Burns in Warsaw this evening.
Wieczorem Prezydent @AndrzejDuda rozmawiał z szefem CIA Williamem Burnsem, który po wizytach w Ankarze i Kijowie jest w Warszawie. Rozmowa dotyczyła ogólnej sytuacji bezpieczeństwa, pojawił się kontekst ostatnich wydarzeń. Na linii PL-US wiele dziś pracy. pic.twitter.com/QuBCWRtksD
— Jacek Siewiera (@JacekSiewiera) November 16, 2022
US ‘has not seen anything to contradict Poland’s missile findings’, says Austin
The US has not seen anything that contradicts Poland’s preliminary assessment that Tuesday evening’s missile was the result of a Ukrainian air defence missile, the defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has said.
Speaking in a news conference, Austin said he had full confidence in the Polish government’s investigation into the explosion, which has suggested that Ukraine’s air defence was probably responsible for the blast that killed two people.
.@SecDef Austin: "We're still gathering information but we have seen nothing that contradicts President Duda's preliminary assessment that this explosion was most likely the result of a Ukrainian air defense missile that unfortunately landed in Poland." pic.twitter.com/oZU8WTSlsB
— CSPAN (@cspan) November 16, 2022
Poland had conducted the continuing investigation in a “professional and deliberate” manner and the US would not get ahead of their work, Austin said.
He added:
We’re still gathering information but we have seen nothing that contradicts President Duda’s preliminary assessment that this explosion was most likely the result of an Ukrainian air defence missile that unfortunately landed in Poland.
Whatever the final conclusions may be, the world knows that Russia bears ultimate responsibility for this incident. Russia launched another barrage of missiles against Ukraine specifically intended to target Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure.
Russia’s “deliberate cruelty” only deepened the US’s resolve to continue to support Ukraine’s “bedrock right to defend itself”, he said.
Updated
We visited Kherson today, where artillery fire echoed in the distance. Heavy fighting continues across the region, as Ukrainian troops are attempting to consolidate their gains.
Meanwhile, people are assessing the extent of the damage wreaked by eight long months of Russian occupation, as they are still dealing with no electricity and water.
Updated
The Financial Times’ Christopher Miller has shared a clip of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, telling reporters that he has “no doubt” that the missile that landed in Poland on Tuesday evening was not Ukrainian.
Zelensky live on state TV now refutes Western leaders' statements and prelim evidence that missile which killed two in Poland was Ukrainian. "I have no doubt that it was not our missile or our missile strike. We have to participate in the investigation." https://t.co/b35OmPnVqX
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) November 16, 2022
Zelenskiy also said he had “received signals” from Ukraine’s allies that the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, would like to hold direct negotiations with Ukraine. He told state television:
I received signals that Putin wants direct negotiations. I proposed a public forum because Russia is waging a public war.
Updated
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said he intends to visit Beijing in the new year and believes his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, can play a mediating role that prevents a resumption of large-scale land fighting in Ukraine in February.
Speaking at the close of the G20 in Bali, a summit dominated by the Russian attack on Ukraine and its implications for the world economy, he said he believed China could take a mediating role in the conflict.
He said:
I am convinced China can play, on our side, a more important mediating role in the coming months, to prevent in particular a stronger return of ground offensives in early February.
Macron’s remarks imply that he thinks Ukraine may have to be prepared to negotiate with Russia before it has regained all the territory it has lost since the initial Russian incursion of 2014. Few military experts believe Ukraine, despite recent successes, could take the highly defended Russian positions, including Crimea, before February with an expected winter slowdown in the fighting.
Macron also said the immediate task was to do everything to help Ukraine resist, and regardless of the source of the stray missile that landed in Poland on Tuesday, Russia had fired as many as 85 missiles into Ukraine that day in an attack on its energy infrastructure. He described it as “a terrible day for the Ukrainian people”, and possibly designed as a message to members of the G20.
Zelenskiy: ‘No doubt’ missile that struck Poland was not Ukrainian
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he is convinced that the missile that landed in Poland and killed two people on Tuesday evening was not Ukrainian.
Poland and Nato have both said the missile was likely caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile, although Poland’s prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki, said it is possible the incident was the result of a provocation from the Russian side.
Andrzej Duda, the Polish president, said there were “many indications” that the missile – “most likely” a Russian-made S-300 rocket – was fired as part of Ukraine’s air defences and “unfortunately fell on Polish territory”.
Nato’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg confirmed initial analysis suggested the incident was “likely caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile fired to defend Ukrainian territory” against Russian cruise missile attacks.
Speaking to reporters, President Zelenskiy said he had received reports from the command of Ukraine’s armed forces and air force and “cannot but trust them”.
Interfax news agency quotes Zelenskiy as saying:
I have no doubt that it was not our rocket.
He added that he believed Ukraine should have been allowed access to the site of the explosion in eastern Poland, adding:
Can we not say the final conclusions? Do we have the right to be in the investigation team? Of course.
Zelenskiy’s remarks came after Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defence council, said Ukraine wanted a “joint study” of Tuesday’s incident with its partners.
Updated
Russia has summoned the Polish ambassador to Moscow to the foreign ministry, ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a quick snap from Reuters.
Britain’s foreign secretary James Cleverly has tweeted a clip of his address earlier this afternoon in parliament where he said the only reason that missiles were flying through European skies was because of Russia’s aggression.
As we pursue further clarity on the tragic incident in Poland last night, one thing is for certain.
— James Cleverly🇬🇧 (@JamesCleverly) November 16, 2022
The only reason why missiles are flying through European skies is because of Putin's barbaric invasion of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/1VyEUg8fwM
Poland ‘cannot rule out missile strike was intentional provocation’, says PM
Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has told the Polish parliament that it is possible the incident in which a missile landed in the country was the result of a provocation from the Russian side.
Morawiecki said:
We cannot rule out that the shelling of Ukrainian infrastructure near the border was an intentional provocation done in the hope that such a situation could arise.
Premier @Morawiecki w #Sejm: Nie możemy wykluczyć, że ostrzał Ukrainy tuż przy granicy z Polską, to zaplanowana operacja Rosji, by dochodziło do takich sytuacji, jak wczoraj w #Przewodów. Niestety nie ma na świecie państw, które chronią całą swoją przestrzeń powietrzną.
— Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (@pisorgpl) November 16, 2022
Summary of the day so far
It’s 6pm in Kyiv and Moscow. Here’s where we stand:
Nato allies met in Brussels to discuss their reactions after a missile fell, on Tuesday, on the Polish village of Przewodów, near the Ukrainian border, killing two people. The incident is the first time that the territory of a Nato country has been struck during the near-nine-month Ukraine war.
Poland’s president Andrzej Duda has said there is no evidence to suggest the missile strike on Przewodów was an intentional attack or was launched by Russia. “Most likely, it was a Russian-made S-300 rocket,” Duda said on Wednesday. But he said there were “many indications” that the missile was fired as part of Ukraine’s air defences and “unfortunately fell on Polish territory”.
Nato’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg confirmed that initial analysis suggested the incident was “likely caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile fired to defend Ukrainian territory” against Russian cruise missile attacks. “Let me be clear: this is not Ukraine’s fault,” he added. “Russia bears the ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine.”
US president Joe Biden also said the missile was unlikely to have been fired from Russia due to its trajectory. Asked if the missile was fired from Russia, Biden said: “There is preliminary information that contests that. I don’t want to say that until we completely investigate. But it is unlikely in the minds [sic] of its trajectory that it was fired from Russia.” He added: “But we will see, we will see.”
Ukraine is requesting “immediate access” to the site of the explosion in eastern Poland, a senior Ukrainian defence official said. Oleksiy Danilov said Ukraine wanted a “joint study” of Tuesday’s incident with its partners. Polish president, Andrzej Duda, said both Poland and the US would have to agree before Ukraine could take part in the investigation.
The Russian defence ministry has claimed that, on Tuesday, it had not targeted anywhere within 35km (22 miles) of the Ukraine-Poland border. In a statement reported by Tass the ministry said statements about “Russian missiles” falling in Przewodów were “a deliberate provocation with the aim of escalating the situation”. The Russian ministry claimed to have identified the wreckage as a Ukrainian S-300 from photographs.
The UK’s prime minister Rishi Sunak has blamed Vladimir Putin’s “cruel and unrelenting” war for destabilising the world economy, while calling for Nato allies to wait for the results of “a full investigation into the circumstances behind missiles falling in Poland yesterday”. The British PM and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau spoke with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and said in a read-out afterwards that “whatever the outcome of that investigation [into the explosion in Poland], Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is squarely to blame for the ongoing violence.”
Former Russian president and hawkish long-term ally of Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, has said that the explosion on Polish territory showed the west was moving closer to another World War. “The incident with the Ukrainian-alleged ‘missile strike’ on a Polish farm proves just one thing: waging a hybrid war against Russia, the west moves closer to world war,” Medvedev wrote on Twitter.
A vital deal allowing Russian and Ukrainian wheat and fertilisers to be exported through the Black Sea is expected to continue, according to the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The deal was scheduled to expire on Saturday but Erdoğan said he was confident the deal was going to be renewed for a year, bringing relief to some of the poorest countries in the world.
A draft declaration from G20 leaders said “most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine”, and demanded Russia’s “complete and unconditional withdrawal” from its neighbour’s territory. The reference to war is a rejection of Russia’s claim that it is involved in a “special military operation”. But it also said “there were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions”, reflecting the divisions among G20 states over Russia.
Russia’s foreign ministry said it had banned entry to more than 50 Irish politicians as a result of western sanctions over Ukraine. Among those listed include Ireland’s prime minister, Micheál Martin, deputy prime minister, Leo Varadkar, and the foreign, justice and finance ministers.
Ukrainian investigators have uncovered a claimed “torture room“ in Kherson city where dozens of men were allegedly detained, electrocuted, beaten and some of them killed. in around mid-March and turned it into a prison for men who refused to collaborate with them or who were accused of partisan activity.
Britain will have to tackle Russian aggression for years to come, said the MI5 chief Ken McCallum in his annual threat update. He added that his agency had blocked more than 100 attempts by the Kremlin to insert suspected spies into the UK since the Salisbury poisonings.
Good afternoon from London. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong still with you today with all the latest developments from the Russia-Ukraine war. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
Ukraine’s military told western allies that it attempted to intercept a Russian missile during the timeframe and near the location of the missile that landed in Poland on Tuesday evening, according to a US official.
CNN reports that it is unclear where this missile is the same as the one that killed two people in the village of Przewodów, four miles from the Ukraine border, but this information has informed an ongoing US assessment of the strike.
Updated
Poland was analysing the possibility of launching the Nato article 4 measure. Article 4 is in the North Atlantic Treaty and states:
The Parties will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened.
The treaty is made up of 14 articles and was signed in 1949 by 12 founding members (parties) of Nato, an organisation created to secure peace in Europe after the second world war. The idea that it was created in response to the threat posed by the Soviet Union is only partly true.
The treaty-signing ceremony was held in Washington and a report of it appeared in the Guardian.
Updated
Here’s a clip from Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, who said in a press conference earlier today that the missile, which struck Poland on Tuesday killing two people, was probably caused by Ukraine, but it was not Ukraine’s fault.
Updated
The RIA Novosti news agency in Russia is reporting that “four loud explosions were heard in the sky” in the Russian city of Belgorod on Wednesday afternoon. An RIA correspondent speculates that it was air defence at work. Belgorod is located close to Russia’s border with Ukraine, near Kharkiv.
Reuters has a quick snap to say that the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, has said that both Poland and the US would have to agree before Ukraine could take part in the investigation into the missile strike on Przewodów, a move that Kyiv is asking for.
Updated
Lorenzo Tondo and Isobel Koshiw report for the Guardian from Kherson city:
Ukrainian investigators have uncovered a “torture room“ in Kherson city where dozens of men were allegedly detained, electrocuted, beaten and some of them killed.
Police said Russian soldiers took over the juvenile detention centre
in around mid-March and turned it into a prison for men who refused to collaborate with them or who were accused of partisan activity.
Three neighbours and two local shopkeepers said they started hearing screams about six weeks after they saw Russian soldiers take over the building. The witnesses said they started seeing people being taken in with bags on their heads, and some bodies being removed.
Mykola Ivanovych, whose balcony overlooks the backyard of the
detention centre, said he saw two bodies thrown into the garages behind the centre. The Guardian was with press and prosecutors when they first entered the site, and the bodies had been removed.
“They would come out beaten up […] completely disoriented,” said Ira, who owns a kiosk outside the detention centre. “They would come in here and ask for directions and we gave them money for the bus.”
Witnesses said they never saw the faces of the men in charge of the
centre, as they wore balaclavas and were dressed head to toe in black.
Russian soldiers came to pensioner Vitaliy Serdiuk’s house in late August. They turned the place upside down and shot in the air when neighbours protested, then took Serdiuk to the detention centre.
Serdiuk was beaten so badly within the four days he was held that his wife, Elena, said he has been afraid to leave the house for the last two months.
Read more of Lorenzo Tondo and Isobel Koshiw’s report from Kherson city: Alleged Russian ‘torture room’ uncovered in liberated Kherson
Updated
Earlier today, the BBC’s diplomatic correspondent, Paul Adams, offered this analysis of the situation surrounding the Poland missile strike, saying that questions linger about Kyiv’s initial reaction to the incident. He writes:
This was the moment Western leaders have feared since Russia launched its all-out invasion in February: that the war might spill over onto the territory of one of Ukraine’s Nato neighbours, forcing Nato to respond and thus widening the conflict.
But early fears that Russia might have deliberately attacked Poland quickly faded, as analysts and then Western politicians lined up to say this did not look like a deliberate Russian attack.
Questions will be raised about Kyiv’s early denial that one of its air defence missiles was involved.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, last night tweeted that any suggestion a Ukrainian missile had landed in Poland was a Russian “conspiracy theory”.
In light of subsequent comments from Joe Biden, his Polish counterpart, Duda, Stoltenberg, the Danish defence minister and others, Kuleba’s tweet seems hasty.
Updated
The Poland missile incident has been discussed in the UK parliament. Foreign secretary James Cleverly said in a statement that the full details of the blast remain unknown, and said the UK would not rush to judgment.
Cleverly said Poland would lead the investigation into what happened, and that the only reason that missiles were flying through European skies was because of Russia’s aggression. Cleverly said:
It is absolutely right that we stand in solidarity with our allies, our formal allies in Nato and also with the Ukrainian people as they defend themselves. I spoke in the past about the need for strategic endurance, recognising that we must send the message not just now about Putin, but to every other potential aggressor around the world, that we will defend the UN charter and we will defend international humanitarian law. We will defend the right of territorial integrity, and we will defend it until the job is done.
The foreign secretary said “the UK stands ready to provide any practical or technical assistance” required by Poland, and that “our response will always be led by the facts”.
In response, Labour’s opposition foreign spokesperson, David Lammy said Ukraine would continue to enjoy the full support of the UK. “Putin’s warmongering is being met with ever greater isolation,” he said, adding:
This was a serious incident that led to a tragic loss of life. Last night, Poland and Nato allies deserve praise for taking the correct steps to carefully assess this incident and avoid escalation. It is right that we continue to proceed with cool heads to determine exactly what has taken place, and work in lockstep with Poland and Nato allies.
Updated
Britain will have to tackle Russian aggression for years to come, said the MI5 chief on Wednesday, adding that his agency had blocked more than 100 attempts by the Kremlin to insert suspected spies into the UK since the Salisbury poisonings.
Ken McCallum, giving an annual threat update, said state-based threats were increasing and said the UK also faced a heightened direct threat from Iran, which had threatened “to kidnap or even kill” 10 people based in Britain in the past year.
The spy chief said Russia had suffered a “strategic blow” after 400 spies were expelled from around Europe following the start of the war in Ukraine, but he said the Kremlin was actively trying to rebuild its espionage network.
Britain had expelled 23 Russian spies posing as diplomats after the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury in 2018, yet since then “over 100 Russian diplomatic visa applications” had been rejected on national security grounds.
McCallum accused Russia of making “silly claims” about British activities without evidence, such as that UK was involved in attacking the Nord Stream gas pipelines. But the head of MI5 said “the serious point” was that “the UK must be ready for Russian aggression for years to come”.
Read the full story here:
Updated
Germany’s defence ministry spokesperson said Berlin will offer to send its own warplanes to support patrols over Polish airspace.
Speaking to reporters, Christian Thiels said:
As an immediate reaction to the incident in Poland, we will offer to strengthen air policing with combat air patrols over its airspace with German Eurofighters.
He added:
The mission could begin as early as tomorrow, if Poland so desires.
The patrols could be launched from German airbases without needing to relocate the jets to Poland, he said.
The German defence minister, Christine Lambrecht, is planning to speak to her Polish counterpart on the matter today, he added.
Updated
The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said he will not speculate on the origin of the missile that hit Poland yesterday.
Wallace told reporters:
We’re all trying to establish the facts, the international community is working together. I think the Polish prime minister has been pretty clear that we will progress once we know exactly what’s happened.
He added:
The obvious point is that missiles were flying around yesterday because Russia was firing over 80 missiles into Ukraine, hitting civilian locations, inevitably killing innocent civilians. That is because of Russia’s direct aggression on that state.
Updated
Russia’s foreign ministry said it had banned entry to more than 50 Irish politicians, including the prime minister, Micheál Martin, as a result of western sanctions over Ukraine.
Among those listed include Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Leo Varadkar, and the foreign, justice and finance ministers.
In a statement, the Russian ministry said:
Acting under orders from Brussels, Ireland is conducting an aggressive anti-Russian propaganda campaign.
Updated
Ukrainian officials are not considering evacuating cities after yesterday’s wave of Russian missile strikes on energy infrastructure that left millions without power, a senior official said.
Speaking on Ukrainian television, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s office, said authorities were instead focused on stabilising the country’s power grid and had made significant progress.
Ukraine is requesting “immediate access” to the site of the explosion in eastern Poland, a senior Ukrainian defence official said.
Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defence council, said Ukraine wanted a “joint study” of Tuesday’s incident with its partners.
He added that Kyiv expected its allies to provide the information that provided the basis for their conclusions that the incident may have been caused by Ukraine’s air defences.
Виступаємо за спільне вивчення інциденту з падінням ракети в Польщі. Готові передати наявні у нас докази російського сліду. Очікуємо від партнерів інформацію, на підставі якої був зроблений висновок про те, що йдеться про ракету української ППО.
— Oleksiy Danilov (@OleksiyDanilov) November 16, 2022
Україна просить невідкладно надати доступ до місця вибуху представникам @DefenceU та @DPSU_ua.
— Oleksiy Danilov (@OleksiyDanilov) November 16, 2022
A missile struck the village of Przewodów in Poland on Tuesday, a few miles away from the Ukrainian border, killing two farmers and destroying a tractor. The incident is the first time a Nato country has been hit during Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, said it was highly probable the rocket, which was Russian-made, was used by the Ukrainian air defence. There were no grounds to believe the incident was an intentional attack, Duda said, or that the rocket had been launched by the Russian side.
Stoltenberg: Russia ‘bears responsibility’ for missile hit in Poland
Stoltenberg said that although the missile that landed in Poland yesterday and killed two people was “most likely” Ukrainian air defence systems or missiles, “this is not Ukraine’s fault”.
He said:
Russia bears responsibility for what happened in Poland yesterday, because this is a direct result of the ongoing war and the wave of attacks from Russia against Ukraine yesterday.
Ukraine “of course” has the right to shoot down the wave of Russian missiles targeting Ukrainian cities and critical Ukrainian infrastructure, he said. He added:
Nato is preparing for accidents like this to prevent them from happening, and if they happen to ensure that they don’t spiral out of control.
Updated
Stoltenberg emphasises that the investigation into the Polish missile is ongoing but that Nato allies agree on the assessment that there is no indication the incident was a deliberate attack.
Based on the findings of the preliminary analysis, there has been no call for Nato article 4, he added.
Stoltenberg: 'No indications' Russia is planning military actions against Nato allies
Stoltenberg says the Polish missile incident demonstrates that the war in Ukraine “which is President Vladimir Putin’s responsibility – continues to create dangerous situations”.
The incident shows the dangers connected to the ongoing war in Ukraine “but it has not changed our fundamental assessment of the threat against Nato allies”, he adds.
Nato is “constantly” assessing its presence in the eastern part of the alliance, he said:
At the same time, we have no indication that this was a result of a deliberate attack on Nato territory. And we have no indications that Russia is planning offensive military actions against the Nato allies.
Updated
Nato has “significantly increased” its presence in the eastern part of Europe with more troops and “significant substantial” air and naval power, Stoltenberg said.
He said he welcomes that more and more allies are providing air defence systems to Ukraine.
Nato allies offered their “deepest condolences” on the tragic loss of life after two people were killed in Poland, Jens Stoltenberg said.
Allies “expressed their strong solidarity” with Poland and “made clear that we will continue to support Ukraine in its right to self-defence”, he said.
The Nato chief called on Russia to “stop this senseless war” and said the alliance stands united and will “always do what is necessary to protect and defend all allies”.
Updated
Stoltenberg: Poland missile strike ‘likely caused by Ukraine but not Ukraine’s fault’
Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg is speaking at a news conference following the missile strike on Poland yesterday.
An investigation is ongoing but preliminary analysis “suggests the incident was likely caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile fired to defend Ukrainian territory against Russian cruise missile attacks”, Stoltenberg said.
He added:
Let me be clear, this is not Ukraine’s fault. Russia bears ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine.
There is “no indication” that the missile was the result of a deliberate attack or that Russia is preparing offensive military actions against Nato, he added.
Updated
A German government spokesperson has rejected the establishment of a no-fly zone, arguing that it would pose a threat of direct confrontation between Russia and Nato.
They added:
Together with all our allies we are agreed that we want to avoid a further escalation of this war in Ukraine.
Berlin will offer support to the Polish air defence, a spokesperson for the defence ministry said.
Poland is still analysing the possibility of launching the Nato article 4 measure, according to its prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Speaking at the same press conference as President Andrzej Duda, he said it seems it may not be necessary to use that measure –the formal mechanism for a consultation under which a country can summon a meeting when it feels its territory is being violated or threatened.
Updated
Missile strike in Poland ‘probably an unfortunate accident’ by Ukrainian air defence, says president
Poland’s president Andrzej Duda has said the missile that landed in his country and killed two people appears to be an “unfortunate accident”.
It was highly probable that the rocket, which was Russian-made, was used by the Ukrainian air defence, he added.
There were no grounds to believe that the missile incident was an intentional attack, Duda said, or that the rocket was launched by the Russian side.
He said:
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. It is highly probable that it was fired by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense.
Prezydent @AndrzejDuda: Nic nie wskazuje na to, że był to intencjonalny atak na Polskę. Najprawdopodobniej była to rakieta produkcji rosyjskiej typu S-300. Nie mamy w tej chwili dowód na to, że była to rakieta wystrzelona przez stronę rosyjską. [1/2]
— Kancelaria Prezydenta (@prezydentpl) November 16, 2022
📍@BBN_PL
Hello everyone. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong here again, taking over the live blog from Martin Belam to bring you all the latest news from Ukraine. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.
Updated
French president Emmanuel Macron said the G20 wanted neither war in Ukraine nor nuclear blackmail and that the meeting had highlighted a “great convergence to push Russia to de-escalate (… ). Russia must return to the negotiating table”.
“China can play a greater mediation role with us in the coming months,” he said, adding that he had discussed with Chinese president Xi Jinping the “principle” of a visit to China at the start of 2023.
He said the Chinese president was sincere in wishing to avoid nuclear escalation, and bring the war to an end.
Summary of the day so far …
Nato allies are meeting in Brussels to discuss their reactions after a missile fell, on Tuesday, on the Polish village of Przewodów, near the Ukrainian border, killing two people. The incident is the first time that the territory of a Nato country has been struck during the near-nine-month Ukraine war.
The US president, Joe Biden, has said the missile was unlikely to have been fired from Russia due to its trajectory. The US president was speaking at the G20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia, after convening an emergency meeting of western leaders to discuss the explosion on Nato territory that has the potential to take the war in Ukraine into a new even more dangerous dimension.
The Russian defence ministry has claimed that, on Tuesday, it had not targeted anywhere within 35km (22 miles) of the Ukraine-Poland border. In a statement reported by Tass the ministry said: “Statements by various Ukrainian sources and foreign officials about allegedly ‘Russian missiles’ falling in the village of Przewodów are a deliberate provocation with the aim of escalating the situation”. The Russian ministry claimed to have identified the wreckage as a Ukrainian S-300 from photographs.
UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has blamed Vladimir Putin’s “cruel and unrelenting” war for destabilising the world economy, while calling for Nato allies to wait for the results of “a full investigation into the circumstances behind missiles falling in Poland yesterday”. The British PM and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau spoke with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and said in a read-out afterwards that “whatever the outcome of that investigation [into the explosion in Poland], Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is squarely to blame for the ongoing violence.”
A senior adviser to Ukraine’s president said on Wednesday that Russia was to blame for any “incidents with missiles” after its invasion of his country. “In my opinion, it is necessary to adhere to only one logic. The war was started and is being waged by Russia. Russia massively attacks Ukraine with cruise missiles,” Mykhailo Podolyak said in a written statement. “Russia has turned the eastern part of the European continent into an unpredictable battlefield. Intent, means of execution, risks, escalation - all this is only Russia. And there can be no other explanation for any incidents with missiles.”
Former Russian president and hawkish long-term ally of Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, has said that the explosion on Polish territory showed the west was moving closer to another World War. “The incident with the Ukrainian-alleged ‘missile strike’ on a Polish farm proves just one thing: waging a hybrid war against Russia, the west moves closer to world war,” Medvedev wrote on Twitter.
Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni expressed “great apprehension and concern” over the missile explosion, adding she was meeting with Nato and European allies to consider possible steps.
A draft declaration from G20 leaders said “most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine”, demanding Russia’s “complete and unconditional withdrawal” from its neighbour’s territory. The reference to war is a rejection of Russia’s claim that it is involved in a “special military operation”. But it also said “there were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions”, reflecting the divisions among G20 states over Russia. The declaration warns that “the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible. The peaceful resolution of conflicts, efforts to address crises, as well as diplomacy and dialogue, are vital. Today’s era must not be of war.”
Pope Francis on Wednesday condemned the latest wave of missile attacks on Ukraine and called for a ceasefire to avert the risk of an escalation of the conflict.
Sweden will deliver new military aid worth 3bn crowns (£242m) to Ukraine, its biggest package of defence material to date, which includes an air defence system, prime minister Ulf Kristersson said.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later. Léonie Chao-Fong will be with you shortly.
Updated
A German foreign ministry spokesperson has indicated to Reuters that today’s Nato meeting in Brussels has not been held under Nato article 4, the formal mechanism for a consultation under which a country can summon a meeting when it feels its territory is being violated or threatened.
Here is the full statement in English from the Russian defence ministry, in which it claims that both the missile strike in Przewodów and damage to residential areas of Kyiv yesterday were caused by Ukrainian actions. The statement reads:
The footage of the wreckage detected in Przewodów, published in the evening of 15 November in Poland, has been identified without a shadow of a doubt by professionals of Russian defence industrial complex as elements of S-300 air defence guided missile of Ukrainian Air Force.
The statements of various Ukrainian sources and foreign officials on the fall of alleged ‘Russian rockets’ in Przewodów are a deliberate provocation aimed at escalating the situation.
We also want to stress that no missile strikes were launched at any facilities in Kiev within high-precision firepower’s massive attack on the facilities located in Ukraine.
All the destructions in the residential quarters of the Ukrainian capital, demonstrated by the Kiev regime, are the direct consequence of the fall and self-destruction of the air defence missiles launched by Ukrainian forces from the foreign-manufactured air defence systems deployed within the city limits.
We want to emphasise that the high-precision attacks were launched only at the targets located in Ukraine and no closer than 35 kilometres (22 miles) from the Ukrainian–Polish border.
Ukrainian authorities have said that all the incidents were a result of Russian aggression, with presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak saying “there can be no other explanation for any incidents with missiles” and accusing Russia of turning eastern Europe into “an unpredictable battlefield”.
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Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko has posted to Twitter an image of the aftermath of yesterday’s missile strike on Przewodów in Poland accompanied with the message:
This is Russia’s fault! If Putin hadn’t gone crazy with a missile shower over Ukraine yesterday, there would be no hits. In Kyiv, Kharkiv or Przewodów.
Bellingcat’s Eliot Higgins offers this assessment of what we know about the missile strike in Poland yesterday:
At this point I think it’s fair anyone saying that a Russian missile hit Poland based on the current evidence is being irresponsible, but we can still acknowledge those air defence missiles wouldn’t have been fired if Russia wasn’t bombarding Ukrainian cities in the first place.
Updated
Hungary stands firmly by Poland, prime minister Viktor Orbán has said on Twitter, saying “We need a calm and thorough investigation regarding the explosions in Przewodów. One thing is for sure: Hungary stands firmly by Poland.”
There are some more images coming across the newswires from Przewodów in Poland, the village that has suddenly found itself at the centre of attention in Russia’s war on Ukraine following a missile landing there last night which killed two people.
Nato member states’ representatives meeting on Wednesday will likely discus a request to strengthen air defences on the alliance’s eastern wing, Slovak prime minister Eduard Heger said, Reuters reports.
“It is natural that there will likely be a request on the table to strengthen the airspace of countries on the border,” he said.
Russia claims missile that struck Poland was Ukrainian, amid reports of a similar view from US
There are reports that separately the US and Russia appear to be converging on claims that the missile, which struck a Polish village on Tuesday, killing two people, was part of Ukraine’s air defences that had been attempting to fend off a Russian missile attack on Ukraine.
The Russian defence ministry has claimed that on Tuesday it had not targeted anywhere within 35km (22 miles) of the Ukraine-Poland border. In a statement reported by Tass the ministry said:
Statements by various Ukrainian sources and foreign officials about allegedly “Russian missiles” falling in the village of Przewodów are a deliberate provocation with the aim of escalating the situation.
The Russian ministry claimed to have identified the wreckage as a Ukrainian S-300 from photographs.
In a separate development a Nato source, who has spoken to Reuters, told the news agency US president Joe Biden – who earlier suggested the idea the missile came from Russia was unlikely – told Nato allies that the missile was Ukrainian air defence. Nato representatives are meeting in Brussels to discuss the incident.
Updated
Reuters is reporting that a Nato source has informed the new agency that US president Joe Biden has informed the alliance that the missile that fell into Poland, killing two people, was a Ukrainian air defence missile.
Russia defence ministry: missile claims 'deliberate provocation', wreckage 'identified' as Ukrainian S-300
The Russian defence ministry is issuing a robust statement denying involvement in the explosion in Poland.
Reuters has snapped the following key lines:
Russia says it carried out a massive attack on military targets and energy infrastructure in Ukraine on Tuesday.
The strike achieved its goals.
High-precision strikes were carried out only on Ukrainian territory and no closer than 35km (22 miles) from the Ukrainian-Polish border.
Allegations of Russian missiles falling in the Polish village are a deliberate provocation to escalate the situation.
Photos of the wreckage found in Poland are identified as elements of the Ukrainian S-300.
The Russian claims have not been independently verified.
Sunak: Putin's war continues to 'devastate global economy', world should wait for investigation into Poland missile strike
UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has blamed Vladimir Putin’s “cruel and unrelenting” war for destabilising the world economy, while calling for Nato allies to wait for the results of “a full investigation into the circumstances behind missiles falling in Poland yesterday.”
Sunak stressed that the war in Ukraine had affected everybody in the world through its economic impact, saying “We should all be clear, none of this would be happening if it weren’t for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is the cruel and unrelenting reality of Putin’s war. As long as it goes on, it poses a threat to our security and that of our allies. And as long as it goes on, it will continue to devastate the global economy.”
Earlier, the British prime minister and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau spoke with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and said in a read-out afterwards that “whatever the outcome of that investigation [into the explosion in Poland], Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is squarely to blame for the ongoing violence.”
Sunak was scathing of the Russian president in his media briefing at the conclusion of the G20 summit in Bali, saying “While other world leaders were working together to tackle the greatest challenges our people face, Putin was launching indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Ukraine.”
The prime minister said he offered his “wholehearted support and assurance that the United Kingdom stands steadfastly behind” Poland, adding “The persistent threat to our security and global economic asphyxiation has been driven by the actions of the one man unwilling to be at this summit, Vladimir Putin. There is not a single person in the world who hasn’t felt the impact of Putin’s war.”
Updated
Pope Francis on Wednesday condemned the latest wave of missile attacks on Ukraine and called for a ceasefire to avert the risk of an escalation of the conflict.
Reuters report he was speaking at his general audience at St Peter’s Square at the Vatican.
The war in Ukraine was the most debated article of a declaration of G20 leaders gathered at a summit this week, the Indonesian president said on Wednesday, while urging all sides not to escalate tensions further.
Joko Widodo, president of this year’s host nation Indonesia, said missile explosions in Poland on Tuesday were regrettable. Reuters reports Widodo added the war had caused devastation and huge human suffering and weighed on global economic recovery.
Updated
Ukrainian MP Kira Rudik has appeared on Sky News in the UK, where she has said that regardless of the origin of the missile that struck Poland, ultimately it was Russian aggression that was to blame. She told viewers:
Even if it was a Ukrainian missile that was working to intercept Russia it is still as a result of us trying to protect our lives, to try to protect ourselves. So again, the best response here would be give us the fighter jets, give us the sophisticated air defence protection system. So if it was a mistake or incident, we would not be able to repeat it. Because what is happening right now is us fighting for survival.
On the broader course of the war, she said of the barrage of missiles that hit Ukraine yesterday: “This is Russia’s strategy every single time when they are losing on the battlefield. They are attacking civilian infrastructure and they are attacking civilian objects. They’re not targeting military objects.”
She also said there was little appetite for a peace deal, because of the potential future threat. She said:
People are asking, why are you not going into the peace deal with Russia? As of right now? There is nothing in the world that would stop Russia from attacking again. Nothing in the world that can assure us that our children would not have to fight the war that we’re fighting right now. And this is showing the failure of the world security systems, and it shows us that we need to build a new security system that would work much better against tyrants.
Updated
Ukraine: Russia has turned eastern part of Europe into an unpredictable battlefield
A senior adviser to Ukraine’s president said on Wednesday that Russia was to blame for any “incidents with missiles” after its invasion of his country.
“In my opinion, it is necessary to adhere to only one logic. The war was started and is being waged by Russia. Russia massively attacks Ukraine with cruise missiles,” Mykhailo Podolyak said in a written statement to Reuters after US President Joe Biden said a missile that killed two people in Poland was probably not fired from Russia.
“Russia has turned the eastern part of the European continent into an unpredictable battlefield. Intent, means of execution, risks, escalation - all this is only Russia. And there can be no other explanation for any incidents with missiles.”
Updated
German chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday a missile strike in eastern Poland near the Ukrainian border, in which two people were killed, should be fully investigated before conclusions are drawn.
Reuters reports that in his closing statement following the G20 summit in Bali, Scholz called it a positive sign that the United States had offered to assist Poland with the probe.
Scholz welcomed the clear language found at the summit to condemn the war in Ukraine, adding: “The Russian president is almost alone in the world with his policy.”
In a press briefing at the conclusion of the G20 summit in Bali, the UK’s prime minister Rishi Sunak has said that “while other world leaders were working together to tackle the greatest challenges our people face, Putin was launching indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Ukraine.”
He went on to say:
In the wake of these attacks today, we held an urgent meeting of allies to underscore our solidarity with Ukraine, and Poland. I also spoke to Polish president Duda this morning to offer my wholehearted support and assurance that the United Kingdom stands steadfastly behind him and his people at this worrying time.
We should all be clear, none of this would be happening if it weren’t for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is the cruel and unrelenting reality of Putin’s war. As long as it goes on, it poses a threat to our security and that of our allies. And as long as it goes on, it will continue to devastate the global economy.
Sunak added:
The persistent threat to our security and global economic asphyxiation has been driven by the actions of the one man unwilling to be at this summit, Vladimir Putin.
There is not a single person in the world who hasn’t felt the impact of Putin’s war. Global food markets have been severely disrupted by his attempts to choke off Ukrainian grain supply. There has been an eight fold increase in global energy prices, thanks to Russia turning off their gas. And the economic aftershocks of Putin’s casual disregard for human life will ripple around the world for years to come.
Follow more live here with my colleague Andrew Sparrow: Rishi Sunak holds press conference after meeting with Joe Biden – UK politics live
Andrew Sparrow is covering Rishi Sunak’s press briefing at the G20 over here:
The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is speaking in Bali at the conclusion of the G20, where he has just said that not a single person in the world has been left untouched by the economic effects of Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, and that the after-effects will ripple on for years. We will bring you the full quotes shortly.
More details soon …
Updated
Reuters is carrying a quick snap that Lithuania’s president, Gitanas Nausėda, has said the blast in Poland does not change the military threat level, but shows that Nato must deploy swifter air defences on its eastern border.
Updated
Jonathan Ashworth, a shadow minister for the UK’s opposition Labour party, has been asked for comment on the situation in Ukraine and Poland on Sky News this morning in the UK. He told viewers:
Well, obviously it is deeply, deeply concerning. And Poland is an ally of ours. Our bonds of friendship with Poland are deep and strong.
I don’t want to speculate. I’m not in a position to speculate anyway, but obviously we need our Nato allies to investigate what’s happened and get to the bottom of this.
But we do need to be calm. Let’s not rush into anything here, and allow the international community to work out what’s going on.
Asked if he agreed that the incident would not have happened without Russia’s involvement in the war, he said:
That is, of course, the backdrop of this, and our support and solidarity with Ukraine remains steadfast.
And of course, absolutely, we would not be in this situation if it wasn’t for this absolutely appalling invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
And again, the whole international community is united, saying to Russia, you should not be doing this, and you need to back off.
Updated
Here is what the UK’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said earlier:
Ukraine is having to use missiles to defend its homeland, is having to defend its homeland against an illegal and barbaric set of strikes by Russia. Over 80 yesterday, at the same time that we were sitting together gathered as the G20, calling for peace.
I think Russia displayed absolute contempt for the international system by raining down so many missiles on civilian targets.
Sunak will be giving a press briefing in Bali later this morning.
Updated
Jessica Elgot is in Bali for the Guardian at the G20 summit. This is the read-out she has received from the joint UK-Canada call with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy:
The prime minister and prime minister Trudeau expressed their condolences for the terrible loss of life as a result of Russian attacks on Ukraine overnight,” Number 10 said. “They underscored their enduring support for Ukraine’s resistance and updated President Zelenskiy on their discussions at the G20 on this issue.
The prime minister and prime minister Trudeau emphasised the importance of a full investigation into the circumstances behind missiles falling in Poland yesterday. They stressed that, whatever the outcome of that investigation, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is squarely to blame for the ongoing violence. President Zelenskiy thanked the prime minister and prime minister Trudeau for their support.
Updated
Sweden will deliver new military aid worth 3bn crowns (£242m) to Ukraine, its biggest package of defence material to date, which includes an air defence system, prime minister Ulf Kristersson said.
Reuters reports previous arms contribution by Sweden, which has applied to join Nato along with neighbouring Finland, has ranged from simple equipment such as helmets and body armour to rocket-propelled grenades and missiles.
“It’s a bigger military support package than all eight previous packages combined,” Kristersson told a news conference. “It’s the single largest we’ve done, and we follow exactly the Ukrainian priority list of what they themselves think they need just now.”
Updated
The Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour reports from the G20 conference in Bali:
Away from the headlines created by the missiles landing in Poland, the G20 may have behind the scenes at least acted as a venue for the extension of the vital deal allowing Russian and Ukrainian wheat and fertilisers to be exported through the Black Sea, so bringing relief to some of the poorest and hungriest countries in the world.
The deal was set to expire on Saturday. Russia has been holding out on renewing the deal signed in July since in its view it was being implemented unfairly due to sanctions on Russian agricultural exports remaining in place.
Russia had already suspended the deal briefly once.
But the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, speaking at a press conference in Bali, said he was confident that the deal was going to be renewed, and not just temporarily, but instead for a year.
Turkey, jointly with the UN, had negotiated the initial Black Sea grain deal in July, and Erdoğan said its existence allowing grain to pass a Russian naval blockade had already allowed 11bn tonnes of grain through. Erdoğan said he would be holding further talks with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, as soon as he returned to Turkey from the G20 summit.
Russia has also secured an agreement that it will again be able to use a pipeline that transports ammonia, a key ingredient in nitrate fertiliser, through Ukrainian controlled territory before reaching a port near Odesa. Russian use of the pipeline was suspended following the 24 February Russian attack on Ukraine.
The UN plan is that ammonia produced by the Russian fertiliser producer Uralchem be brought to the Russia-Ukraine border. The product will be purchased by US commodities trader Trammo before being put into the pipeline, ensuring no Russian-owned grain transfers across Ukrainian territory. Uralchem is owned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin, making the transaction more complex.
Updated
The FT’s Ukraine correspondent, Christopher Miller, has tweeted to say that he has spoken to Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, who said:
We have nothing new to announce because we’re waiting for the investigation to end. After the investigation is over we will update our statement. It’s premature to comment until the investigation is over. We saw the Biden statement.
Miller also reports that there are air raid sirens and alerts “across all of Ukraine right now”.
Meanwhile, air raid sirens and alerts across all of Ukraine right now, which means Russian missiles are in the air. Yesterday Russia fired 100+ at Ukraine, destroying energy infrastructure and striking residential buildings. At least one person was killed in Kyiv. pic.twitter.com/MqJ6xGDhW1
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) November 16, 2022
Updated
The village of Przewodów, where the explosion occurred last night, is in Poland, just over the border from Ukraine.
The location of the explosion is blockaded by police as investigations continue.
Here are some views that have been sent over the newswires this morning of the destroyed Antonivskyi Bridge over the Dnipro River. Retreating Russian forces blew it up as part of their retreat from Kherson city, an area of occupied Ukraine that the Russian Federation claims to have annexed.
Updated
Oleksandr Syenkevych, mayor of Mykolaiv, has posted to Telegram to say that there is an air alarm in effect in the region. Additionally, journalist Mark MacKinnon has reported that air raid sirens are sounding in the southern port city of Odesa.
Morning sirens in Odessa.
— Mark MacKinnon (@markmackinnon) November 16, 2022
Erdoğan urges against provocation over Poland incident
Russian state-owned Tass news agency is reporting that Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is satisfied with Russia’s claim that it was not involved in the incident in Poland, and that “insisting that the missiles were Russian-made will provoke this issue”. Tass reports:
“I have to respect the position of Russia, which said that this is not its missile. For us, this is important,” Erdoğan said, answering a question from Tass following the results of participation in the G20 summit in Bali.
The Turkish leader also called for a detailed investigation into the incident.
In addition, Erdoğan called US President Joe Biden’s statements that “these were not Russian-made missiles” important. “[German Chancellor Olaf] Scholz said that they are in contact with each other, like six Nato countries. There was also Biden’s statement. I think that insisting that the missiles were Russian-made will provoke this issue. We are trying as much as possible rather, put Russia and Ukraine at the same negotiating table. In this regard, we believe that such a method as provocations is not correct. The path to peace lies through dialogue,” the Turkish president added.
China urges 'calm and restraint' over incident in Poland
All parties should “stay calm and exercise restraint under current circumstances,” Reuters report China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, told a regular media briefing on Wednesday, in remarks about the explosion that killed two people in Poland.
Updated
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, an aide to Ukraine’s president, has warned on Telegram that emergency electricity disconnections are possible today to stabilise supply, following the Russian barrage of attacks on energy infrastructure yesterday.
Tymoshenko listed Volyn, Zhytomyr, Lviv, Sumy, Ternopil, Kharkiv and Khmelnytskyi regions as areas where utilities were still not fully restored to the whole population.
While world attention is understandably focused on reaction to the explosion in Poland, Ukraine continues to defend itself. Vitaliy Kim, the governor of Mykolaiv, has reported on Telegram that overnight in his region Ukraine shot down 12 missiles and nine Shahed-136 kamikaze drones. He did not report any casualties in the region.
Updated
Here is one of the latest images from Przewodów, Poland sent to us over the newswires.
Poland remains a very safe country thanks to its membership in Nato, Poland’s deputy foreign minister said on Wednesday, as Nato prepares to meet in Brussels to discuss a missile that killed two people in Poland on Tuesday.
“The reaction of our allies, their unequivocal support and willingness to stand by us, shows that we are a much safer country than if we were not in Nato,” Reuters report Pawel Jablonski told radio station RMF FM on Wednesday morning.
Jessica Elgot is in Bali for the Guardian attending the G20 summit. She has a little more detail here on the cancellation of the UK-China bilateral and Downing Street reaction to events in Poland:
Number 10 said there were “movements with timings on both sides” which led to the cancellation of the China bilateral, but prime minister Rishi Sunak had wanted the meeting to go ahead. “The prime minister obviously thinks it is still important to have that conversation with President Xi Jinping,” his spokesman said.
Downing Street said the missile attacks on Ukraine which were coming at a time when world leaders are meeting was a further demonstration “of contempt Russia has for the international order.” But they said facts were “still being established” about what happened with the missile in Poland.
In a clip filmed with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, Sunak said they were both “particularly disturbed by the continued barbaric activity of Russia in bombarding the Ukrainian people in their civilian infrastructure. We spoke to the foreign minister of Ukraine earlier today to express our sympathies about that and continue to offer support to Ukraine.”
Medvedev: Polish incident shows 'west moves closer to world war'
Former Russian president and hawkish long-term ally of Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, has said that the explosion on Polish territory showed the west was moving closer to another World War.
“The incident with the Ukrainian-alleged ‘missile strike’ on a Polish farm proves just one thing: waging a hybrid war against Russia, the west moves closer to world war,” Medvedev wrote on Twitter.
In a separate development this morning, the Russian foreign ministry has repeated on Telegram a claim from its mission to the European Union that an announcement of further training initiatives for Ukrainian forces under the EU flag is “aimed at escalation” and marks “another step to enhance EU involvement in the conflict in Ukraine”.
Russia commenced its latest invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and in September it claimed to annex four regions of the country into the Russian Federation, following the occupation and annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni expressed “great apprehension and concern” over the missile explosion, Reuters reports her office said on Wednesday, adding she was meeting with Nato and European allies to consider possible steps.
Meloni also had a phone conversation with Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki, her office added in a statement.
UK-China bilateral at G20 cancelled – Sunak and Trudeau to speak to Zelenskiy
Jessica Elgot is in Bali for the the Guardian for the G20 summit and sends this report:
The bilateral between the UK and China - billed as the first in five years - has been cancelled at the G20, with time pressures blamed because of snap meetings in the aftermath of the strike in Poland by the Ukrainian border.
Instead, Rishi Sunak and the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau will speak to president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the mid-afternoon. It comes after Joe Biden said the missile that landed in Poland, killing two people, was unlikely to have been fired from Russia due to its trajectory.
It is understood the UK does not dispute the US version of events but both Sunak and Downing Street would not comment on the record about the provenance of the explosion. “It is important that we remain calm and focus on establishing the facts,” Sunak said.
Sunak and Trudeau, who were tasked with speaking to Zelenskiy after a snap meeting with G7 and Nato leaders, spoke earlier to the Ukrainian foreign minister.
The prime minister was woken up at 5am Balinese time to be briefed on the incident in Poland, speaking shortly afterwards to his defence and foreign secretary, and to Poland’s president Andrezj Duda around 7pm.
Sunak also held a bilateral meeting with Biden, the first time the pair have formally met. Number 10 said that, unusually, the pair did not discuss a US-UK trade deal, a further hint that Sunak is taking a slower approach to trade having already hinted he wants to thoroughly review work on the trade deal with India.
Both Biden and Sunak spoke about the global economic challenges as well as Biden saying he was keen to see progress on the Northern Ireland protocol. Biden is understood to have said he believed Sunak also wanted to see a resolution with the EU as soon as possible.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London, on what so far is a fast-paced day of diplomatic reactions to the explosions in Poland last night which killed two people. Early indications appear to be that the weapon that landed inside Nato’s borders was Russian-made, but had been used as part of Ukraine’s air defence systems. This has not been confirmed.
Here are some of the latest developments:
Nato is due to hold an emergency meeting at 9am GMT.
Poland’s national security council (BBN) said on Wednesday it will meet again at 1100 GMT. “The BBN is currently analysing the arrangements made so far with commanders, service chiefs and allies,” BBN head Jacek Siewiera said in a post on Twitter. The Polish security council had first met on Tuesday night following news of the strike.
Nato member Poland’s president early on Wednesday said the country had no concrete evidence showing who fired the missile, which struck a Polish grain facility some 6 km (4 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
US president Joe Biden said the missile was probably not fired from Russia.
Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told a news conference on Wednesday morning it was not yet possible to tell the origin of a missile which killed two people in Poland, Reuters reports.
Hungary’s foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said on his official Facebook page that Hungary has a special relationship with Poland and is watching Polish developments “with great concern”.
Julian Borger offers this analysis of what might happen next: Poland explosion unlikely to spark escalation – but risks of Nato-Russia clash are real
International summits like the G20 traditionally end in a jointly issued communique.
It’s important to note that the statement coming from leaders gathered in Bali is a draft “declaration” not a “communique”.
According to the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, the distinction between the two is that a communique is agreed by all sides, while a declaration is an implicit admission that not all countries present could agree.
As a result, the declaration in Bali includes an unusual reference to a “majority” of G20 members agreeing the wording on the war in Ukraine.
Patrick adds:
Whether a communique or a declaration, these statements are not binding on member states, but are crafted to secure maximum agreement.
Updated
G20 leaders declaration divided over Russia
A draft declaration from G20 leaders said “most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine”, demanding Russia’s “complete and unconditional withdrawal” from its neighbour’s territory.
The reference to war is a rejection of Russia’s claim that it is involved in a “special military operation”.
But it also said “there were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions”, reflecting the divisions among G20 states over Russia.
The declaration warns that “the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible. The peaceful resolution of conflicts, efforts to address crises, as well as diplomacy and dialogue, are vital. Today’s era must not be of war.”
The Ukraine war, the statement stressed “is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy – constraining growth, increasing inflation, disrupting supply chains, heightening energy and food insecurity, and elevating financial stability risks”.
The draft did, however, note: “There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions.”
On Tuesday, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, was quoted by Russia’s Tass news agency as saying “the west added the phrase ‘many delegations condemned Russia,’ [but] we noted that alternative views were also outlined”.
He left Indonesia later in the day.
Updated
Draft G20 leaders declaration ‘deplores in strongest terms Russian aggression against Ukraine’
A draft declaration from G20 leaders says it’s essential to uphold international law and the multilateral system that safeguards peace, at the close of the summit in Bali.
The leaders said they “deplore in strongest terms Russian aggression against Ukraine”.
It’s not clear whether this draft declaration was agreed by all members, but as Russia is a member of the G20, it appears unlikely.
The declaration said most members condemned the war but “there were other views”.
A joint G20 communique would usually be agreed by all parties, but as agreement appeared unlikely, the summits hosts – Indonesia – had instead been pushing for a leaders’ declaration.
The declaration also said members’ central banks would continue to appropriately calibrate the pace of monetary policy tightening.
Updated
A G20 leaders declaration has been adopted, according to several diplomatic sources speaking to Reuters.
As at other recent international forums, the United States and its allies have been pushing for a statement condemning Russia’s war in Ukraine.
A joint G20 communique, which would need to be agreed by all parties, had therefore appeared unlikely this year, which is why Indonesia has instead been pushing for a leaders’ declaration.
Turkey's president says he takes Russian missile denial seriously
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he took Russian denials of involvement in the attack seriously adding it was likely to be a technical error.
Speaking at the G20 summit in Bali, he said “I have met with the German chancellor Olaf Scholz. There is general impression that this missile is not Russian made and this declaration paves the way to certain facts, so we should not insist this missile was launched from Russia. This would be a provocation.”
He added “peace can only be established through dialogue and we want to establish dialogue”.
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CIA Director in Kyiv meets with president Zelenskiy
CIA Director Bill Burns is in the Ukrainian capital to meet with president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his intelligence counterparts, according to a US official.
Burns was safely in the US embassy during Russian missile strikes in Kyiv.
His trip comes on the heels of a Monday meeting in Turkey with his Russian intelligence counterpart, Sergey Naryshkin – and it is the second known time in less than a month that the CIA director has visited Kyiv.
According to the US official, Burns “discussed the warning he delivered to the head of Russia’s SVR not to use nuclear weapons and reinforced the US commitment to provide support to Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression.”
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US official suggests the missile that hit Poland was fired by Ukrainian forces at an incoming Russian missile - AP
The Associated Press news agency is reporting that initial findings suggest the missile that hit Poland was fired by Ukrainian forces at an incoming Russian missile, citing US officials.
The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs initially described the missile as “Russian-made”, but as the Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour has reported, that could include S-300 ground to air missiles in the possession of Ukraine.
Earlier, Joe Biden was asked if the missile was fired from Russia. He said, “there is preliminary information that contests that. I don’t want to say that until we completely investigate. But it is unlikely in the minds [sic] of its trajectory that it was fired from Russia.”
US president Joe Biden and his British counterpart, Rishi Sunak, have spoken to reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine.
“We’re going to continue to support Ukraine as long as Russia continues their aggression,” Biden reportedly told Sunak, according to a White House press pool report.
“I’m glad we’re on the same page in terms of supporting Ukraine,” he added.
In response, Sunak said the partnership between the US and the UK is “unique” and “enduring” and he felt proud to have stewardship of it.
The pair agreed that the series of recent Russian strikes on Ukraine were “barbaric”.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he has spoken with Polish president Andrzej Duda and expressed his condolences to him and his citizens after blasts near Poland’s border with Ukraine.
A statement released on Wednesday read:
This is a terrible incident and it is necessary to carefully clarify how it came about.”
Poland has called the blasts a strike by a Russian-made projectile, while Russia has denied the claim.
France urges caution, says missile type may not identify its origin
France has urged for the “utmost caution” on any assessment of the origin of the missile that landed on Nato member Poland, warning “many countries have the same kind of weapons, so identifying the type of missile won’t necessarily identify who is behind it”.
Agence France-Presse quotes a French presidency official as saying:
It’s logical that we approach the question with utmost caution... Many countries have the same kind of weapons, so identifying the type of missile won’t necessarily identify who is behind it.”
A Nato aircraft flying above Polish airspace on Tuesday reportedly tracked the missile that landed in its territory, an alliance military official told CNN on Tuesday.
Intel with the radar tracks [of the missile] was provided to Nato and Poland,” the Nato military official added.
The aircraft flying above Poland on Tuesday was monitoring events in Ukraine, according to the broadcaster. Nato aircraft have been conducting regular surveillance around Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.
The Nato official did not say who launched the missile that was tracked landing in Poland, nor where it was fired from.
So what crashed in the village of Przewodów, Poland today?
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) November 15, 2022
With the cooperation of @blueboy1969 we analyzed the available photos of fragments and came to a clear conclusion that they belong to the 48D6 motor of the 5V55-series missile of the S-300 AD system- a Ukrainian one. pic.twitter.com/f0Ex3USLN8
US secretary of state Antony Blinken spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, about assessments of the blasts in Poland, the state department said in a statement on Wednesday.
He pledged to remain closely co-ordinated and affirmed the United States would “continue to work closely with allies and partners to provide Ukraine what it needs to defend itself”.
I spoke this morning from Bali with Polish Foreign Minister Rau and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba regarding the explosion in eastern Poland. We pledged to remain closely coordinated in the days ahead as the investigation proceeds and we determine appropriate next steps.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) November 16, 2022
Detailed call with @SecBlinken on Russian missile terror — its scale, aims, consequences. I stressed the response to what happened in Poland must be stiff and principled. Grateful for affirming the US will double down on recovering our energy system, together with G7 and the EU.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) November 16, 2022
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Nato and G7 leaders condemn Russia's 'barbaric missile attacks'
Nato and G7 leaders have condemned Russia’s “barbaric missile attacks” on Ukraine in a statement following the emergency meeting held earlier with members in Bali.
The leaders of Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States met on the margins of the G20 Summit and released the following statement:
We condemn the barbaric missile attacks that Russia perpetrated on Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure on Tuesday.
We discussed the explosion that took place in the eastern part of Poland near the border with Ukraine. We offer our full support for and assistance with Poland’s ongoing investigation. We agree to remain in close touch to determine appropriate next steps as the investigation proceeds.
We reaffirm our steadfast support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in the face of ongoing Russian aggression, as well as our continued readiness to hold Russia accountable for its brazen attacks on Ukrainian communities.”
We condemn the cowardly and brazen missile attacks of Russia on Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure.
— Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) November 16, 2022
We offer our full support for and assistance with Poland’s ongoing investigation. https://t.co/hei3b7XvcY
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The United Nations has said it is “absolutely essential” to avoid escalating the war in Ukraine in light of the explosion from a fallen missile in Poland.
A spokesperson released a statement late on Wednesday on behalf of the UN secretary general, saying:
The secretary-general is very concerned by the reports of a missile exploding on Polish territory. It is absolutely essential to avoid escalating the war in Ukraine.
He sends his condolences to the families of the victims. He hopes that a thorough investigation will be conducted.”
Here are a few more images we have received from the Polish village of Przewodów, near the Ukrainian border, where a missile fell on Tuesday afternoon.
Biden says ‘unlikely’ missile fired from Russia
US president Joe Biden has spoken to reporters after an emergency meeting with Nato and G7 leaders in Bali.
Biden said the group would support Poland’s investigation into the incident.
“I’m going to make sure we figure out exactly what happened … Then we’re going to figure out our next step.”
Responding to a question as to whether the missile was fired from Russia, Biden said:
There is preliminary information that contests that. I don’t want to say that until we completely investigate.
But it is unlikely in the lines of the trajectory that it was fired from Russia, but we’ll see.”
The president added that it was “unlikely” the missile was fired from Russia possibly due to the weapon’s trajectory.
He described Russia’s continued missile attacks on Ukraine as “totally unconscionable”.
JUST IN: President Biden speaks after "emergency" meeting of G7 and NATO leaders, after missile hits in Poland.
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 16, 2022
"We agreed to support Poland's investigation into the explosion in rural Poland near the Ukrainian border." https://t.co/RdYLvfum24 pic.twitter.com/Nl6vLVpIv0
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Poland's president says no 'conclusive evidence' of Russian missile
Poland’s president Andrzej Duda has said there is so far no “conclusive evidence” as to who launched a missile into Polish territory but it is “most likely” to have been Russian-made.
Duda has said that the explosion in Przewodów was a “one-off incident” and there are “no indications” that it is going to happen again.
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,” Andrzej Duda told reporters.
The Polish foreign ministry had earlier said that a Russian-made rocket had fallen on the village.
Duda spoke after prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that Poland would increase surveillance of its airspace following the incident.
“We decided to increase the combat readiness of selected units of the Polish armed forces, with particular emphasis on airspace monitoring,” Morawiecki said.
Morawiecki also asked for people to be restrained. “I call on all Poles to remain calm around this tragedy. Let’s be prudent, let’s not let ourselves be manipulated.
“We need to be ready to face fake news, propaganda efforts.”
Russia denies its missiles crossed into Poland
Russia has denied its missiles crossed into Poland, calling the reports a “deliberate provocation”.
A statement from the Russian defence ministry read:
The statements of the Polish media and officials about the alleged fall of ‘Russian’ missiles in the area of Przewodów is a deliberate provocation in order to escalate the situation. No strikes on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish state border were made by Russian rockets.”
The Russian foreign ministry added in a statement published on Telegram:
Polish mass media and officials commit deliberate provocation to escalate situation with their statement on alleged impact of ‘Russian’ rockets at Przewodów. Russian hardware has launched NO strikes at the area.”
Some analysts said they believed photographs of missile debris at the scene showed a Ukrainian S-300 air defence system that would have been engaged in shooting down a Russian missile, but it was not possible to corroborate those reports.
⚡ @mod_russia: Polish mass media & officials commit deliberate provocation to escalate situation with their statement on alleged impact of "Russian" rockets at Przewodów.
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) November 15, 2022
◽️ Russian hardware has launched NO strikes at the area.
In full detail 👉 https://t.co/oRDoVSZDdR pic.twitter.com/3VnCklmg3B
Nato and global leaders will meet at Poland's request
Nato and global leaders are set to meet on Wednesday after a Russian-made rocket fell on Nato member Poland and killed two people, raising concerns that the Ukraine conflict could spill over its borders.
Two European diplomats said Poland requested the Nato meeting under the treaty’s Article 4, which allows for all Nato allies to be brought together when the “territorial integrity, political independence or security” of any member has been threatened.
A Nato official said the alliance was closely coordinating with Poland, according to a Reuters report.
Fabrice Pothier, former head of policy planning in the Nato secretary-general’s office, told Sky TV that in a Nato meeting officials would “consult each other, to assess the threat and to take concrete action.”
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, a view Pothier endorsed.
“Every inch of Nato territory must be defended!,” Lithuanian president Gitanas Nauseda said on Twitter.
A deliberate attack on a Nato member could in theory lead to the invocation of the alliance’s article 5, which states that an attack on one member of the military alliance is considered an attack against all. But the Nato treaty is highly unlikely to be triggered by an accidental attack.
Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki also said the country would be increasing the readiness of some military units.
Poland’s government said it has also summoned Moscow’s ambassador for an explanation.
Poland says 'Russian-made missile' killed two in village on border
A “Russian-made missile” fell on the Polish village of Przewodów, near the Ukrainian border, killing two people on Tuesday afternoon, Poland’s foreign ministry reported, in what would be the first time Nato territory has been struck during the Ukraine war.
Foreign affairs spokesperson Lukasz Jasina said in a statement released on Tuesday:
On 15 November 2022, massive shelling of the entire territory of Ukraine and its critical infrastructure by the armed forces of the Russian Federation was observed for many hours.
At 15.40 in the village of Przewodów … a Russian-made missile fell, killing two citizens of the republic of Poland.”
It was not clear who launched the missile that landed a few miles away from the Ukrainian border, Poland’s president Andrzej Duda said, but he and other officials claimed it was likely to be “Russian-made”.
That could mean it was a Russian munition which may have veered off course, but it could also have been a missile from Ukrainian S-300 air defence system, weapons which experts said were originally made in Russia.
Two farmers were killed and a tractor destroyed after a large explosion in the eastern village.
Updated
G7 leaders hold emergency summit after Poland explosion
Members of the G7 and Nato countries who are gathered in Bali for the G20 summit have held a snap meeting after “Russian-made missiles” landed in Poland, killing two people.
The meeting was attended by US president Joe Biden, the UK’s Rishi Sunak, Germany’s Olaf Scholz, France’s president Emmanuel Macron, Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau, the EU’s Ursula Von der Leyen, Japan’s Fumio Kishida, the Netherlands’ Mark Rutte, as well as Spain’s Pedro Sanchez, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and EU council president Charles Michel.
Biden, Sunak and Scholz spoke to Poland’s president Andrzej Duda earlier in the morning.
The rest of the summit which concludes on Wednesday afternoon is likely to be dominated by the response to the strikes.
Updated
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments as they unfold over the next few hours.
Poland will likely call for an emergency meeting of all Nato ministers after it said Russian-made missiles crossed into the country in what would be the first time Nato territory has been struck during the Ukraine war.
Poland’s government said it has also summoned Moscow’s ambassador after a “Russian-made rocket” fell on the Polish village of Przewodów, near the Ukrainian border on Tuesday afternoon.
For any updates or feedback you wish to share, please feel free to get in touch via email or Twitter.
If you have just joined us, here are all the latest developments:
A “Russian-made missile” fell on the Polish village of Przewodów, near the Ukrainian border, killing two people on Tuesday afternoon, Poland’s foreign ministry said in a statement, in what would be the first time Nato territory has been struck during the Ukraine war.
Poland’s president Andrzej Duda said that the explosion was a “one-off incident” and there are “no indications” that it is going to happen again. Duda said it was “most-likely” a Russian-made rocket but “we do not have any conclusive evidence at the moment as to who launched this missile … this is all still under investigation at the moment.”
Poland’s government said it had summoned Moscow’s ambassador to Poland to provide an explanation. According to a statement released on Poland’s government’s website, a spokesperson said: “The minister of foreign affairs, Zbigniew Rau summoned the ambassador of the Russian federation to the ministry of foreign affairs and demanded immediate detailed explanations.”
Nato ministers are preparing to gather on Wednesday at the request of the Polish government. The meeting is set to be convened under article 4 of the Nato treaty, which allows for all Nato allies to be brought together when the “territorial integrity, political independence or security” of any member has been threatened.
A deliberate attack on a Nato member could in theory lead to the invocation of the alliance’s article 5, which states that an attack on one member of the military alliance is considered an attack against all. But the Nato treaty is highly unlikely to be triggered by an accidental attack.
The White House said it could not confirm reports coming out of Poland and was working with the Polish government to gather more information. As day broke in Bali in Indonesia, where the G20 meeting is being held, US president Joe Biden talked by phone to Duda.
Biden offered Duda “full support for and assistance with Poland’s investigation”. Biden also “reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to Nato” during a telephone call on Wednesday.
Duda has also spoken to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Zelenskiy tweeted afterwards: “We exchanged available information and are clarifying all the facts … all of Europe and the world must be fully protected from terrorist Russia.”
The Russian defence ministry in a statement denied its missiles crossed into Poland, calling the reports a “deliberate provocation”. “The statements of the Polish media and officials about the alleged fall of ‘Russian’ missiles in the area of Przewodów is a deliberate provocation in order to escalate the situation. No strikes on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish state border were made by Russian rockets.”
Some analysts said they believed photographs of missile debris at the scene showed a Ukrainian S-300 air defence system that would have been engaged in shooting down a Russian missile, but it was not possible to corroborate those reports.
Russia launched waves of missile strikes across Ukraine on Wednesday as G20 leaders met in Bali. Ukraine’s authorities said it was another planned attack aimed at the country’s energy infrastructure facilities. In his Wednesday evening address, Zelenskiy said “a total of 90 missiles” hit Ukraine. Seven million homes were left without power. The deputy head of the presidential administration, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, wrote on Telegram that the energy situation across Ukraine was “critical” as a result.
Earlier Zelenskiy, addressing the G20 by video link, called on the leaders to support Ukraine to end the war on its terms – the primary one being that Russian troops leave all of Ukraine, including the areas it occupied in 2014. Zelenskiy called for an international conference to “cement key element of the postwar security architecture” and prevent a recurrence of “Russian aggression”.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said that Zelenskiy’s statement that there will be no “Minsk-3” deal to end the fighting in Ukraine confirms that Kyiv is not interested in holding peace talks with Moscow.
