Poland military on alert after Russian-made missile blast, Poland’s military was on on high alert on Tuesday following what the country’s president described as “most likely” a missile strike by a Russian manufacturer. An “emergency discussion” was scheduled to take place on Wednesday outside of the G20 meeting in Indonesia as Western leaders scrambled to respond to the possibly significant escalation of the crisis in Ukraine.
Poland military on alert after Russian-made missile blast
In Przewodow, two people were killed by a missile, according to Warsaw, which added that Moscow’s ambassador has been called to give “immediate detailed explanations” but lacked conclusive proof as to who fired the missile. Following a meeting of the emergency national security council, Poland’s military went on high alert.
After the conference in Warsaw, spokesperson Piotr Muller told reporters that “a decision has been made to elevate the level of readiness of some combat units and other uniformed services,” adding that “our services are on the ground right now trying to figure out what happened.” The White House reported that President Joe Biden spoke via phone with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda and pledged “full US support for and assistance with Poland’s probe.”
The statement also stated that the two leaders had agreed to “stay in constant contact to decide on appropriate future steps as the probe develops.” All three leaders of NATO member states—British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and French President Emmanuel Macron—expressed support for Poland.
Poland is protected by NATO’s commitment to collective defence — enshrined in Article 5 of its founding treaty — but the alliance’s response will likely be heavily influenced by whether the incident was accidental or intentional. Biden also spoke with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg about the blast in Poland, while ambassadors from the alliance were to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday.
European Union chief Charles Michel said he was “shocked”, and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken pledged to “remain closely coordinated in the days ahead as the investigation proceeds and we determine appropriate next steps”. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier said two Russian missiles hit Poland in what he described as “a very significant escalation.”
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba rejected as a “conspiracy theory” the idea that the Poland blast may have been caused by a surface-to-air missile fired by Kyiv’s forces, while Russia’s defence ministry dismissed reports that it was to blame as a “provocation” intended to escalate tensions.
The explosion came after Russian missiles hit cities across Ukraine on Tuesday, including Lviv, near the border with Poland. Zelensky said the strikes cut power to some 10 million people, though it was later restored to eight million of them, and also triggered automatic shutdowns at two nuclear power plants. He said Russia had fired 85 missiles at energy facilities across the country, condemning the strikes as an “act of genocide” and a “cynical slap in the face” of the G20.
Moldova, which also borders Ukraine, reported power cuts because of the missiles fired at its neighbour and called on Moscow to “stop the destruction now”.
– ‘Now is the time’ –
Zelensky told the G20 summit in Bali on Tuesday that “now is the time” to end the war, while Washington said the Russian strikes in Ukraine would “deepen the concerns among the G20 about the destabilising impact of Putin’s war”. White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Russia was again trying to destroy Ukrainian critical infrastructure.
Ukraine military have been advancing farther south since September. Russia this week declared a complete withdrawal from the Kherson region’s regional capital in the south, allowing Ukrainian forces to retake the city. The missile attacks on Tuesday came after officials in Nova Kakhovka who had been appointed by Russia claimed they were leaving the significant southern city and laid the blame on artillery fire from Kyiv’s forces. Additionally, they asserted that “thousands of residents” had heeded their advice to leave in order to “save themselves,” warning that Kyiv’s forces would exact “revenge on collaborators.”
– Key dam at risk –
Nova Kakhovka sits on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, now a natural dividing line between Ukrainian forces that retook Kherson city on the west side and Russia’s forces on the opposing bank. It is also home to the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, which was captured in the beginning of the invasion because of its strategic importance supplying the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula. The Russian-controlled dam is a particular focus now after Zelensky accused Russian troops of planning to blow it up to trigger a devastating flood.
Any flaws in the dam would make it difficult for Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014 and which Ukraine seeks to retake. Last week, Russian soldiers claimed that the dam had been harmed by a Ukrainian strike. The dam was no longer in operation, according to Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-appointed administrator of the Kherson region that is under occupation. According to Russian agencies, he said on state-run television channel Rossiya-24, “The situation is more dangerous — not with electricity generation — but with the dam itself, which, in the event of an explosion, would flood a fairly large area.