Members of Polish police inspect fields near the village of Przewodow, Poland, where an explosion killed two people on Tuesday.
Document from the Polish police department/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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Document from the Polish police department/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Members of Polish police inspect fields near the village of Przewodow, Poland, where an explosion killed two people on Tuesday.
Document from the Polish police department/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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KYIV, Ukraine — The President of Poland said on Wednesday that it appeared a missile that landed just inside the country’s borders was from Ukraine in what he called an “unfortunate accident”.
President Andrzej Duda said: “At the moment, we have no evidence that it was a missile launched by Russian forces. “However, there are indications that it was a missile used by Ukraine’s missile defense forces.”
Two Polish citizens were killed on Tuesday when rockets landed in a rural village in eastern Poland, just miles from the western Ukraine border. This came amid a barrage of Russian missiles fired at cities across Ukraine, and Ukraine responded with its own air defenses.
NATO members discussed the issue in Brussels, and the alliance’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said a preliminary analysis indicated that a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile was fired at a missile by a Ukrainian missile. Russia is coming.
“Let me be clear: this is not Ukraine’s fault. Russia is ultimately responsible for continuing its illegal war against Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said.
In Russia, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russian experts had studied images of the explosion in Poland and concluded that the missile fragments were from the S-300 surface-to-air missile system fired by Ukraine. .
Konashenkov asserted that Russia carried out a series of attacks, which he called “precision” against Ukraine’s military and energy infrastructure. He said this included attacks in western Ukraine, but all of them were 20 miles or more from the Polish border.
At the G20 summit in Indonesia, President Biden said the missile “probably” was not fired from Russia. However, he supported an investigation with Poland and condemned Moscow’s latest attacks on Ukraine.
In Ukraine, President Volodomyr Zelenskyy spoke in a short video Wednesday morning, wishing the people a “normal day” after Tuesday’s missile attack. He did not say whose rocket might have exploded in Poland.
This contrasts with his initial comment on Tuesday night, when he said, “This is a Russian missile attack aimed at collective security.”
Only Russia is responsible for the war in Ukraine and the massive missile attacks. Only Russia is behind the rapidly growing risks to bordering countries. No need to make excuses and delay important decisions. Europe has come to “close the sky 🇺🇦”. For your own safety too…
— айло одоляк (@Podolyak_M) November 16, 2022
One of his top advisers, Mykhailo Podolyak, said that no matter whose rocket landed in Poland, Russia was responsible.
“Only Russia is responsible for the war in Ukraine and the large-scale missile attacks,” he wrote on Twitter. “Only Russia is behind the rapidly increasing risks to the bordering countries. No need to make excuses and delay important decisions. It’s time for Europe to close its skies over Ukraine. .”
Russia fired nearly 100 missiles at Ukraine in just a few hours
Tuesday afternoon’s missiles targeted Ukraine’s power grid as it has done over the past month.
Ukraine said it shot down about 70 incoming missiles, in line with other recent attacks.
But Ukraine’s energy systems, including daily power outages in many parts of the country, took another heavy blow.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that in the capital Kyiv, the largest city with about 3 million residents, about half of households and businesses do not have electricity. Other major cities are in a similar, if not worse, situation.
A woman was killed in Kiev when a rocket crashed into her apartment in a residential area near the city center. There are no obvious military, government or energy facilities in the area.
It is not clear why the building was targeted, or perhaps Ukrainian air defenses hit a Russian missile, and the remnants of that Russian missile hit the building.
Standing in the dark outside the apartment building, Vladimir Yanachuk said he expected more Russian attacks, but this did not weaken the resolve of the Ukrainians.
“We are not afraid of this. Ukrainians are not afraid of this,” he said. “The winter will be difficult. But this winter will be difficult not only for the Ukrainians but also for the Russian soldiers.”
As he was speaking on the street, the lights suddenly came back on in the surrounding apartment buildings, although not the one that was hit.
The Ukrainians were quick to overcome the blackout caused by the Russians, but the number of attacks limited the country’s ability to keep up.
According to Ukrainian officials, Russia has damaged about 40% of the country’s electricity system.
