Early indications led world leaders to believe that the missile that killed two in Poland near the Ukrainian border was the result of a rocket used in Ukraine’s anti-missile defense.
The missile fell into Przewodow, a rural village located about four miles from the Ukrainian border, at about 3:40 p.m. local time on Tuesday. This occurred during a barrage of Russian missiles that targeted cities in various regions within Ukraine, the scope of which hadn’t been conducted in weeks.
With a NATO member appearing to be dragged directly into the war, there were concerns that the conflict could expand and involve the alliance per NATO’s Article 5. This provision requires countries to view an attack on an alliance member as one against themselves.
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The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs initially said the missile was “Russia-made,” though President Andrzej Duda later corrected the record.
“There is no indication that this was an intentional attack on Poland. Most likely, it was a Russian-made S-300 rocket,” Duda said on social media Wednesday. He later told reporters there was a “high chance” it was an air defense missile from Ukrainian forces and likely had fallen on Polish territory in “an accident” while intercepting incoming Russian missiles.
The Russian Ministry of Defense denied the allegation that Russia fired the missile that crossed into Polish territory and claimed two lives, saying it was a “deliberate provocation in order to escalate the situation.”
“The Poles had every opportunity to immediately report that they were talking about the wreckage of the S-300 air defense system missile. And, accordingly, all experts would have understood that this could not be a missile that had any relation with the Russian Armed Forces,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during a call with reporters, according to CNN. “We have witnessed another hysterical frenzied Russophobic reaction, which was not based on any real evidence.”
President Joe Biden and NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg reiterated this initial finding on Wednesday, though the latter still said Russia was at fault for the reason the Ukrainians needed to use the air defense systems.
“Our 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,” Stoltenberg told a press conference following an emergency meeting of NATO ambassadors in Brussels on Wednesday. “But let me be clear, this is not Ukraine’s fault.”
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An adviser for Ukrainian President Voloymdyr Zelensky did not explicitly deny that the rocket was from Ukraine’s air defense systems but blamed Russia for the war itself.
“There is only one logic to be followed,” Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the Office of the Ukrainian President, told CNN. “The war was started and is being waged by Russia. Russia is massively attacking Ukraine with cruise missiles. Russia has turned the eastern part of the European continent into an unpredictable battlefield. Intent, means of execution, risks, escalation — it is all coming from Russia alone.”
Stoltenberg also said Russia has “no indication that Russia is preparing offensive actions against NATO.”
