US probe into fatal rocket hit in Poland

NUSA DUA, INDONESIA: Washington and its allies will investigate a deadly strike in Poland before deciding next steps, with US President Joe Biden saying it was “unlikely” the missile was fired from Russia.

“We agreed to support Poland’s investigation into the explosion,” Mr Biden said after a hastily arranged gathering of allies on the sidelines of the G20 in Bali, Indonesia.

“We’re going to make sure we figure out exactly what happened ... and then we’re going to collectively determine our next step.”

Asked if the missile, which killed two people in a village near the Ukrainian border, had been fired from Russia, Mr Biden said there was “preliminary information that contests that”.

“It’s unlikely... that it was fired from Russia. But we’ll see.”

The explosion in Poland, a NATO member, immediately sparked concerns that the alliance might be drawn into Russia’s nearly nine-month war against Western-backed Ukraine.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, also in Bali, warned it was “absolutely essential to avoid escalating the war in Ukraine”. And Polish President Andrzej Duda also urged calm, saying there was no “unequivocal evidence” for where the missile came from and that he saw it as an “isolated” incident.

“Nothing indicates to us that there will be more,” he said.

The foreign ministry earlier summoned Russia’s ambassador to Warsaw to give “immediate detailed explanations” over the strike, which Moscow has denied launching.

Poland is now expected to request urgent consultations under Article 4 of the NATO Treaty, which is invoked when any NATO member feels their “territorial integrity, political independence or security” are at risk.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed Russia for the Poland blast. The incident came after Russia launched a wave of missile strikes across Ukraine on Tuesday that left millions of households without power and were described by Zelensky as a “slap in the face” for the G20.