A deadly explosion took place Tuesday at a grain processing facility in Poland near the border with Ukraine, according to Polish media outlets, and top government officials later called an emergency meeting.
The cause of the explosion in the village of Przewodow, about four miles north of the Ukrainian border, was not immediately clear. A Polish radio station reported that two people were killed.
At a Pentagon briefing in Washington, Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder said that the Defense Department was aware of media reports saying that two Russian missiles had landed in Poland, but said that U.S. defense officials had no corroborating information.
Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, and president, Andrzej Duda, convened a meeting of the National Security Council in response to a “crisis situation,” a government spokesman, Piotr Mueller, told reporters.
In a Telegram post, Russia’s Defense Ministry said 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.
Russia launched a widespread missile attack on Ukraine on Tuesday, with roughly 100 missiles that were aimed primarily at the country’s electrical infrastructure. Ukraine’s Volyn region, where Russian rocket strikes were reported on Tuesday, lies across the border from Przewodow.
Ukrainian officials said the country’s air defense systems had shot down 70 of the incoming missiles; witnesses said a fragment of one destroyed missile struck a residential building in Kyiv, killing one person.
Vedant Patel, a U.S. State Department spokesman, 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.”
Tinggalkan Balasan