Deadly stray missile in Poland ‘not Russian’
BRUSSELS/PRZEWODOW: A missile that hit eastern Poland killing two people was likely caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile, NATO and Poland said on Wednesday, adding there is “absolutely no indication” for a deliberate attack or that Russia is preparing offensive military actions against NATO.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, however, said that incident happened because of Russia’s war against Ukraine, whose air defense missile went astray.
“An investigation into this incident is ongoing and we need to await its outcome. But we have no indication that this was the result of a deliberate attack,” Stoltenberg told reporters after emergency talks between NATO envoys.
NATO ambassadors were holding emergency talks to respond to the blast on Tuesday that killed two people at a grain facility in Poland near the Ukrainian border, the war’s first deadly spillover onto the territory of the Western military alliance.
Stoltenberg said that NATO has “no indication that Russia is preparing action” against any member of the 30-nation military alliance.
“This is not Ukraine’s fault, Russia bears ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said.
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda too said that the missile was likely Ukrainian, followed by similar suggestions by the United States.
“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,” Poland’s Duda said. “It is highly probable that it was fired by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense.”