NATO believes Poland blast an accident, Kyiv assails Russia, and Wednesday, Western leaders made an effort to allay concerns about a potentially dangerous escalation in Russia’s war in Ukraine by stating that a missile blast in Poland was probably an accident. Kyiv, on the other hand, vehemently denied that its anti-aircraft fire was to blame. Volodymyr Zelensky, the leader of Ukraine, blamed Russia, but NATO and the United States came out strongly in support of Warsaw’s assessment that the deadly missile was likely fired by Ukraine.
NATO believes Poland blast an accident, Kyiv assails Russia
During a massive Russian assault targeting civilian facilities inside the Western-backed Ukraine on Tuesday, at least one missile struck a village in NATO member Poland close to the Ukrainian border, killing two people. While stressing that Moscow was ultimately to blame for starting the conflict, both Warsaw and NATO have said that the explosion in the village of Przewodow was likely caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile launched to intercept a Russian barrage.
In addition to stating that “the party ultimately responsible for this tragic incident is Russia,” the White House claimed it had “seen nothing that contradicts” Poland’s initial assessment. However, according to President Zelensky, there is no evidence that the missile was fired from Ukraine. He demanded to be involved in any investigation and access to the explosion site, as well as “all the data” regarding the missile.
“I have no doubt that this is not our missile,” Zelensky said. “I believe that this was a Russian missile, based on our military reports.”
The incident first raised concerns that the situation in Uk-raine might significantly escalate, but by Wednesday, President Andrzej Duda confirmed Poland’s assessment that the rocket most likely came from Ukraine’s own air defenses. Duda stated that it was highly likely that Ukraine launched the Soviet-era missile in what he called a “unfortunate mistake,” but that Russia was to blame due to its attacks on Uk-raine.
– Russia ‘bears responsibility’ –
This position was emphasized by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, and EU diplomats meeting in Brussels applauded Warsaw for its restrained response. Warsaw is one of Ukraine’s closest allies and Russia’s most ferocious adversaries. Following crisis negotiations in Brussels, Stoltenberg stated that it was anticipated that the ongoing investigation would conclude that “the incident was likely caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile fired to defend Ukrainian territory against Russian cruise missile attacks.”
“But let me be clear, this is not Uk-raine’s fault,” he continued. “Russia bears ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Uk-raine.”
Stoltenberg said NATO had ramped up its defences along its eastern flank in response to the war in Uk-raine and denied that the alliance’s air defences had failed. The NATO chief said Poland had not invoked Article 4 of the Western alliance’s treaty, which would have obliged members to discuss whether “the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened”.
The United States, the most powerful member of NATO, has hundreds of troops stationed in Poland and leads the West in providing arms to Kyiv’s Zelensky government. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin claimed that US experts were assisting the Polish investigation “on the ground.”
According to the Russian defense ministry, “Russian military experts unequivocally identified the wreckage in photographs as fragments of a guided anti-aircraft missile of a Ukrainian S-300 air defense system.” It insisted that its own missile barrage of strikes, which “were carried out on targets only on the territory of Ukraine and at a distance of no closer than 35 kilometers (about 20 miles) from the Ukrainian-Polish border,” was limited to targets in Uk-raine.
The explosion rocked the village of Przewodow in eastern Poland at 1440 GMT on Tuesday.
“I’m scared. I didn’t sleep all night,” Anna Magus, a 60-year-old teacher at the local elementary school, told AFP near the scene.
– ‘War crime’ –
Despite a string of recent battlefield losses, Russia still controls large portions of the region it invaded into Ukr-aine on February 24. Poland, which borders Ukraine on the east by 530 kilometers (329 miles) and where memories of Soviet dominance are still very fresh, has expressed significant worry over the violence.
The explosion happened after a barrage of Russian missiles on Tuesday struck cities around Uk-raine, including Lviv, which is close to the Polish border. The top US military official, General Mark Milley, stated that recent strikes may have been the most intense of the conflict and decried the targeting of civilian facilities.
“The deliberate targeting of the civilian power grid, causing excessive collateral damage and unnecessary suffering on the civilian population, is a war crime”, Milley said.