Skip to main content

2 Killed As Russian Missile Lands In Poland, Near Ukraine Border: Report

2 Killed As Russian Missile Lands In Poland, Near Ukraine Border: Report

2 people were killed in the blast in Poland. (Representational)

Washington:

Two people were killed in an explosion in Przewodow, a village in eastern Poland near the border with Ukraine, firefighters said on Tuesday as NATO allies investigated reports that the blast resulted from Russian missiles.

The Associated Press earlier cited a senior US intelligence official as saying the blast was due to Russian missiles crossing into Poland.

But the Pentagon said it could not confirm that account.

The White House also said it could not confirm reports coming out of Poland and was working with the Polish government to gather more information.

Russia's defence ministry denied reports that Russian missiles had hit Polish territory, describing them as "a deliberate provocation aimed at escalating the situation".

It added in a statement: "No strikes on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish state border were made by Russian means of destruction."

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has called an urgent meeting of a government committee for national security and defence affairs, government spokesman Piotr Muller said on Twitter.

Latvian Deputy Prime Minister Artis Pabriks said on Twitter that Russia "fired missiles which target not only Ukrainian civilians but also landed on NATO territory in Poland."

Officials from Norway, Lithuania and Estonia - members of the NATO defence alliance - said they were trying to find out more information. "This is a very serious incident but much remains unclear," Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said, according to Norwegian news agency NTB.

Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) are committed to collective defence, and the possibility that the Polish explosion resulted from an intentional or accidental Russian strike raised alarm.

"Every inch of #NATO territory must be defended!," Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Twitter.

Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said, according to BNS newswire: "We are discussing with our allies how to respond to what happened jointly and decisively."

Polish Radio ZET reported earlier that two stray missiles hit Przewodow, killing two people, without giving any more details.

"Firefighters are on the spot, it's not clear what has happened," said Lukasz Kucy, an officer on duty at a firefighters' post near the Polish village.

Russia was pounding cities across Ukraine with missiles on Tuesday, in attacks that Kyiv said were the heaviest wave of missile strikes in nearly nine months of war. Some hit Lviv, which is less than 80 km (50 miles) from the border with Poland.

State-run news agency PAP reported that the Polish government would hold a meeting at 2000 GMT.

Muller told reporters later on Tuesday that the committee was convened due to the "crisis situation", adding that relevant information will be presented to the public later. He called on media not to publish "unverified information" in the meantime.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Featured Video Of The Day

Kolkata Student, 10, Wins Google Doodle Contest

Adblock test (Why?)



from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/Cy5WA4Z https://ift.tt/yvjfMAU
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

US Defense Chief Austin To Make 'Full Recovery' From Cancer: Doctors

Austin, a 70-year-old career soldier, initially underwent minor surgery to treat cancer on December 22. Washington: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is likely to make a "full recovery" from prostate cancer and his prognosis is "excellent," two doctors said after he was seen at Walter Reed hospital for a follow-up appointment. Austin controversially kept US President Joe Biden in the dark about the cancer diagnosis for weeks, and did not inform either the commander-in-chief or Congress until days after he was hospitalized on January 1 for complications from his treatment. "Secretary Austin was seen today at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for a scheduled post-prostatectomy surveillance appointment," the doctors said in a statement released by the Pentagon. "He continues to recover well and is expected to make a full recovery. Secretary Austin's prostate cancer was treated early and effectively, and his prognosis is excellent,...

North Korea Says It Tested New Strategic Cruise Missile

North Korea test-fired a new generation of strategic cruise missile on Wednesday. (Representational) Seoul: North Korea fired several cruise missiles towards the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, Seoul's military said, the latest in a series of tension-raising moves by the nuclear-armed state. Hours later, North Korea appeared to confirm the firing, saying it had carried out its first test of a new generation of strategic cruise missiles it is developing, the Pulhwasal-3-31. Pyongyang has accelerated weapons testing in the new year, including tests of what it called an "underwater nuclear weapon system" and a solid-fuelled hypersonic ballistic missile. "Our military detected several cruise missiles launched by North Korea towards the Yellow Sea at around 7:00 am today," the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. Unlike their ballistic counterparts, the testing of cruise missiles is not banned under current UN sanctions against Pyongyang. Cruise...

US "Deplores" Israeli Attack On UN Training Center In Gaza

More than 25,000 people have been killed in Gaza since war began against Hamas. Washington: The United States was concerned by an Israeli attack on a U.N. training center sheltering displaced people in Gaza's Khan Younis on Wednesday, Deputy State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said, repeating Washington's calls for protection of civilians, humanitarian workers and aid facilities. "We deplore today's attack on the U.N.'s Khan Younis training center," Patel told a news briefing, calling it "incredibly concerning." The Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza said that nine Palestinians were killed and 75 were injured when two tank rounds hit the building that was sheltering around 800 people in the southern Gaza Strip. "Civilians must be protected, and the protected nature of UN facilities must be respected, and humanitarian workers must be protected so that they can continue providing civilians with the life-saving humanitarian assistance...