News · Политика

Polish Foreign Ministry: Russian-made missile falls on territory of Poland, two citizens killed

UPDATE 2:47aM

Poland’s Foreign Ministry declared that the missile that had fallen on the territory of the country was Russian-made. The ministry clarified that it had fallen on the territory of Poland at 3:40PM local time (GMT+1) in the village Przewodów. Two citizens of Poland were killed as a result. The Russian Ambassador to Poland has been summoned to the ministry.

At the same time, President of Poland Andrzej Duda noted that there is no exact proof of who had launched the missile. The president will also hold a National Security Council meeting tomorrow. 

The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told CNN that he had no information on the explosion in Poland. “Unfortunately, I don’t have any information on that,” he said.

International experts are working together with Poland on the investigation into missiles dropping on its territory, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki declared.

The Polish radio has reported that Russian missiles landed in the country. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has urgently convened the committee of the ministerial council for national security and defence, his press service reports.

Zet local radio station reported that two missiles had landed in Przewodów, a Polish village situated close to the Ukrainian border. The radio did not disclose the source of information. Zet writes that firefighters confirmed that there had been explosions in the area. At the same time, the brigade captain said that it is unclear what caused the incident. He also said that two people died at the emergency site.

Polish air force jets have been scrambled from the airfield in Tomaszów Lubelski, Visegrad reports.

Polish military expert Jarosław Wolski published photos from the missile landing site in Poland. He suggests that it can be either a Russian cruise missile or a Ukrainian air defence system missile but urged to wait until the official report.

AP reports, citing a US intelligence official, that the missiles that crossed into Poland could be Russian.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon stated that it cannot confirm the reports of two Russian missiles landing on the territory of Poland.

Latvian Defence Minister Artis Pabriks commented on the incident on Twitter:

The Estonian Foreign Ministry also commented on the situation:

The Russian stock market has recorded a sharp drop on Tuesday evening, RBC newspaper points out.

The Russian Defence Ministry has dubbed the reports in Polish media on Russian missiles landing on the territory of Poland “a deliberate provocation with the aim of escalating the situation”.

“There have been no hits on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish state border by Russian weapons. The fragments from the incident site in Przewodów promptly published by Polish media have nothing to do with Russian means of destruction,” the Russian ministry stated.

Polish news outlet Lublin112 points out that there are no markings found on the wreckage that could point to the missiles’ origin.

The pictures of the wreckage published on social media show orifices connecting different sections of the missiles that look similar to that of S-300 missiles. Similar wreckage was previously found in other conflicts that deployed these missiles. The section with the markings could have simply been destroyed in the blast. S-300s are used both by Russia and Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of hitting the territory of Poland with its missiles.

“How many times has Ukraine said that the terrorist state won’t be satisfied with our country alone? Poland, the Baltic states… It’s just a matter of time; Russian terror will continue. We need to put the terrorist in his place! The longer Russia feels impunity, the more threats there will be for everyone within reach of Russian missiles,” he said.

Photo: Volodymyr Zelensky’s Telegram channel

Mariusz Gierszewski, a reporter with local radio Zet, wrote: “My sources in the services say that what hit Przewodów is most likely the remains of a missile shot down by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”

Poland’s government has increased the readiness of several military units, official spokesperson for the Polish authorities Piotr Müller said. 

Poland is also discussing whether it should invoke NATO’s Article 4. It indicates the start of consultations between the Alliance member countries, in case the security or territorial integrity of one of them is threatened.