Russian missile falls in Poland; 2 people killed
KYIV, Ukraine — Poland said early Wednesday that a Russian-made missile fell in the eastern part of the country, killing two people in a blast that marked the first time in the war with Ukraine that Russian weapons came down on a NATO country.
Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy decried the strike as “a very significant escalation” of the war.
The Polish government said in a statement that Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau summoned the Russian ambassador and “demanded immediate detailed explanations.”
Polish government spokesperson Piotr Mueller said some military units were put on alert while officials sought details.
Polish media reported that the strike took place in an area where grain was drying in Przewodow, a village near the border with Ukraine.
President Biden convened an “emergency” meeting of G7 and NATO leaders in Indonesia on Wednesday morning for consultations.
Biden promised “full U.S support for and assistance with Poland's investigation,” and “reaffirmed the United States' ironclad commitment to NATO.”
Biden replied “no” to reporters who asked if he would provide an update on the situation in Poland.
The Russian Defense Ministry denied being behind “any strikes on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish border” and said in a statement that photos of purported damage “have nothing to do” with Russian weapons.
On Tuesday, Russia pounded Ukraine's energy facilities with its biggest barrage of missiles yet, striking targets across the country and causing widespread blackouts. The barrage also affected neighboring Moldova. It reported massive power outages after the strikes knocked out a key power line that supplies the small nation, an official said.
The missile strikes plunged much of Ukraine into darkness and drew defiance from Zelenskyy, who shook his fist and declared: “We will survive everything.” In his nightly address, the Ukrainian leader said the reported strikes in Poland offered proof that “terror is not limited by our state borders.”
“We need to put the terrorist in its place. The longer Russia feels impunity, the more threats there will be for everyone within the reach of Russian missiles,” Zelenskyy said.
Russia fired at least 85 missiles, most of them aimed at the country's power facilities, and blacked out many cities, he said.
The Ukrainian energy minister said the attack was “the most massive” bombardment of power facilities in the nearly 9month-old Russian invasion, striking both power generation and transmission systems.
The minister, Herman Haluschenko, accused Russia of “trying to cause maximum damage to our energy system on the eve of winter.”
The aerial assault, which resulted in at least one death in a residential building in the capital, Kyiv, followed days of euphoria in Ukraine after the retaking last week of the southern city of Kherson.