Tensions flare on Ukrainian borders
Russia unleashes biggest barrage of strikes on utilities
A Ukrainian soldier inspects a damaged Russian tank in the recently retaken village Chornobaivka near Kherson, Ukraine, on Tuesday. Russia pounded Ukraine’s energy facilities Tuesday with its biggest barrage of missiles yet, striking targets across the country and causing widespread blackouts. Polish media reported that two people died Tuesday afternoon after a projectile struck an area where grain was drying in Przewodów, a Polish village near the border with Ukraine.
KYIV, Ukraine — As Russia pounded Ukraine’s energy facilities Tuesday with its biggest barrage of missiles yet, striking targets across the country and causing widespread blackouts, two Polish citizens died in an explosion near the border, Polish authorities said.
After an emergency meeting of the country’s national security and defense council, a government spokesperson, Piotr Mueller, said the cause was under investigation. But the explosion — on a day that Russia launched a broad attack on Ukraine, including territory just across from the site of the explosion — raised anxiety as local reports suggested Russian weapons were to blame, a prospect that could have broader consequences because of Poland’s membership in NATO.
At a Pentagon briefing in Washington, Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the Defense Department was aware of media reports saying two Russian missiles had landed in Poland, but said that U.S. defense officials had no corroborating information.
However, President Joe Biden called an “emergency” meeting of G7 and NATO leaders in Indonesia on Wednesday morning for consultations. Biden, who was awakened overnight by staff with the news of the missile explosion, called Polish President Andrzej Duda to express his “deep condolences” for the loss of life.
Biden promised “full U.S. support for and assistance with Poland’s investigation,” and “reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to NATO.”
The U.N. Security Council also planned to meet Wednesday for a previously scheduled briefing on the situation in Ukraine.
The explosion occurred in the village of Przewodow, about 4 miles north of the Ukrainian border.
Russia’s Defense Ministry denied any involvement. On Telegram, the ministry wrote that any statements by Polish officials or media outlets about Russian missiles hitting the village were a “deliberate provocation.”
“No strikes on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish state border were made,” the ministry wrote.
Mueller, the Polish government spokesperson, said special procedures had been put in place, including boosting combat readiness. He said the Polish government was also examining the possibility of triggering Article 4 of the NATO charter, under which members can consult with one another when a nation feels its territorial integrity or security has been threatened.
The explosion’s proximity to the border raised the possibility it could be the result of an errant missile, or the remains of one that had been targeted by Ukraine’s air defense systems. The Ukrainian Air Force said 70 incoming Russian missiles had been shot down Tuesday. A fragment of one destroyed missile struck a residential building in Kyiv, killing one person.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said in a Twitter post that the explosion in Poland was not caused by a Ukrainian air-defense missile.
Although the cause of the explosion remained unclear — including whether it involved munitions or was instead the result of some other cause — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine seized on reports of possible Russian involvement, calling it evidence of “a very significant escalation.”
Zelenskyy alluded to Poland’s membership in NATO and blamed Russia for what he called an “attack on collective security.”
Since the beginning of the invasion on Feb. 24, Ukraine’s Western allies, including the United States, have sought to keep the fighting limited to Ukrainian territory and avoid direct confrontation between the alliance and Russia, even as they have supplied a steady stream of weapons to Kyiv.
Vedant Patel, a State Department spokesperson, said the United States was working with the Polish government and other members of NATO to gather more information.
Asked whether it would matter if any damage was found to be accidental or intentional, he said, “Of course that is something that would be important.”
The missiles targeting Ukraine plunged much of the nation into darkness and drew defiance from Zelenskyy, who shook his fist and declared: “We will survive everything.”
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 9-month-old Russian invasion, striking both power generation and transmission systems.
The minister, Herman Haluschenko, described the missile strikes as “another attempt at terrorist revenge” after military and diplomatic setbacks for the Kremlin, including the last week’s retreat from the strategic southern city of Kherson.