West criticizes Russia at U.N. for Ukraine war after missile crash in Poland

FILE PHOTO: The debris, which locals claim to be that of a missile, is pictured at the site of an explosion in Przewodow, a village in eastern Poland near the border with Ukraine, in this photograph obtained by REUTERS on November 16, 2022.

The United States and its allies on Wednesday criticized Russia in the United Nations Security Council over missile attacks on Ukraine in a meeting a day after a missile that NATO said was a stray fired by Ukraine's air defenses crashed inside Poland.

Military alliance NATO and member Poland said the missile was probably a stray fired by Ukraine's air defenses and not a Russian strike, easing international fears that the war could widen. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy demurred, saying there was no doubt the missile was not Ukrainian.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks during a meeting of the U.N. Security Council members to focus on Moscow's accusation that there are "military biological programs" in Ukraine, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, U.S., October 27, 2022. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

Two people were killed by the missile in a Polish village near the Ukraine-Poland border on Tuesday, the same day Russia fired scores of missiles at cities across Ukraine, targeting its energy grid and worsening power blackouts for millions. The Kyiv government said it was the most intense barrage of the nine-month-long war.

"This tragedy would never have happened but for Russia’s needless invasion of Ukraine and its recent missile assaults against Ukraine's civilian infrastructure," Washington's ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told the Security Council.

"Ukraine has every right to defend itself against this barrage," Thomas-Greenfield said.

FILE PHOTO: The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, listens to Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya as he speaks to the media after attending a close door meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Ukraine, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, U.S., October 27, 2022. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File Photo

The British and Polish ambassadors to the U.N. echoed the statement that Russia's invasion was ultimately to blame for the explosion in Poland.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the meeting: "We have long ago stopped being surprised by your attempts in any circumstances, in spite of facts or common sense, to blame Russia for everything."

Members of the Security Council at the meeting also called for Russia to extend the Black Sea grains deal, which is set to roll over on Saturday unless there are objections.

Moscow suspended its participation in the agreement in late October but rejoined after four days, easing fears of further disruptions to grain exports from one of the world's biggest suppliers at a time of rampant global food inflation and food shortages.

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis; editing by Grant McCool)