Poland said on Wednesday a Russian rocket killed two people in eastern Poland near Ukraine, planning to summon the Russian ambassador, although Moscow denies it, while the Duda president said there is no evidence of a missile shooter.
Poland's Foreign Ministry said the rocket crashed Tuesday afternoon in Przewodow, a village in eastern Poland about 6 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, killing two people.
The statement was Poland's most detailed comment so far on the blast, which occurred at 15:40 p.m. local time.
Meanwhile, the Polish President said his party did not yet have conclusive evidence indicating who fired the missile, adding that Warsaw remained calm in facing what he described as a "one incident".
"We don't have any conclusive evidence at this time regarding who launched this missile. Most likely it was a Russian-made missile, but this is all still under investigation at this time," President Andrzej Duda told reporters.
President Duda said Poland would most likely seek consultation under Article 4 of the NATO military alliance after the explosion.
"Our ambassador will attend the North Atlantic Council meeting tomorrow (today) at 10 a.m. (local time) at NATO headquarters. It is likely that the ambassador will request the activation of Article 4, or allied consultations," he explained.
President Duda spoke after Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Poland would increase surveillance of its airspace following the incident.
"We have decided to increase the combat readiness of the selected unit of the Polish armed forces, with a special emphasis on monitoring airspace," Morawiecki said.
Separately, US President Joe Biden told Polish President Andrzej Duda by telephone Washington has a "strong commitment to NATO" and will support Poland's investigation, the White House said.
"President Biden offered full support and US assistance for the Polish investigation," the White House said after the two leaders spoke.
Meanwhile, Russia's Ministry of Defense denied reports that their missile had hit Polish territory, describing it as a "intentional provocation aimed at escalating the situation".
"No attacks on targets near the Ukrainian-Poland state border were carried out by means of Russian destruction," the ministry said.
The reported debris was found at the scene "have nothing to do with Russian weapons," the statement continued.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
