NATO does not believe that Russia attacked Poland and considers that the missile that fell on the country’s territory and killed two people belonged to Ukraine’s air defense, as it said this Wednesday (16) the Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg.
“We have no indication that this was the result of a deliberate attack and we have no indication that Russia is preparing offensive military actions against NATO,” Stoltenberg said at a news conference following an emergency meeting of the Atlantic Council, the organization’s decision-making body.
The Alliance’s preliminary analysis “suggests that the incident was likely caused by the Ukrainian air defense missile fired to defend Ukrainian territory against Russian cruise missile attacks”, said the Secretary General of the Alliance.
Polish President Andrzej Duda declared in Warsaw that he is ” probable” that the missile that hit the country’s territory was “launched by Ukraine” and added that “nothing indicates” that it was an “intentional attack against Poland”.
World leaders did, during the G20 event in Indonesia, an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Eastern Europe.
Russia also stated that the projectile was fired by a defense system of Kiev forces.
According to the Associated Press, three US officials said, on condition of anonymity, that preliminary assessments suggested the missile was fired by Ukrainian forces at a Russian missile amid heavy attacks on Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure.
US President Joe Biden also informed members of the G7 and NATO that the explosion was caused by a missile attack by Ukrainian air defense, as revealed by a source of the alliance to the Reuters agency this Wednesday (16). Joe Biden had previously said that the missile was unlikely to have been fired from Russia, based on previous reports.
According to Belgian Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder, who works on the investigations alongside Poland , the explosion was a result of Ukrainian air defense systems, used to “counter-attack Russian missiles”. Dedonder posted on Twitter about several “explosions” in Polish territory, which occurred during the massive Russian bombing of Ukraine.
“Based on available information, it would be Russian missile debris and Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles that hit Polish soil. Analyzes are still ongoing to determine with certainty both the source of the fire and the targets these missiles would hit. Based on currently available information, however, there is nothing to indicate that it was a deliberate attack on one or more more Polish targets,” declared Dedonder in a statement.
Some forces of the Polish Army and other security bodies in the country were placed on high alert and, in a message on Wednesday, the minister of Polish Defense, Mariusz Blaszczak, informed that “the air defense systems and selected military units, both from land forces and from the Navy, are on high alert”.
“The Polish Army is monitoring the situation. We are in constant contact with our allies”, concluded the minister’s statement.
After confirming an explosion caused by a missile in the Polish city of Przewodów (east), a few kilometers from the border with Ukraine, that caused the death of two people, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki spoke to the press last night to ask his compatriots to calm down and warned against the proliferation of fake news, provocations and disinformation “that only benefit Russia”.
