It’s reported that Russian missiles have struck a farm in Poland near its border with Ukraine, killing two people.
It came on a day that Russia launched a mass wave of missile attacks across Ukraine.
Russia dismissed claims that it was responsible for the missile strike in Poland, calling them "a deliberate provocation in order to escalate the situation".
The US and other international powers said they were investigating and did not immediately attribute blame.
The Polish government has been holding emergency talks and said it was putting some military units on heightened alert.
If the missiles are confirmed to be Russian, it would mark the first time its missiles had landed on the territory of a Nato member, raising the question of how the security alliance would respond.
There has been speculation that the strikes in Poland could be due to a missile malfunction, or the result of Ukraine’s air defence systems knocking a Russian missile off course.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of deliberately attacking Poland and demanded a tough NATO response.
Huw Edwards presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Jeremy Bowen in Ukraine and Steve Rosenberg in Moscow.
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AP) — President Joe Biden said Wednesday it was “unlikely” that a missile that killed two in NATO-ally Poland was fired from Russia, but he pledged support for Poland’s investigation into what it had called a “Russian-made” missile.
Biden spoke after he convened an “emergency” meeting of the Group of Seven and NATO leaders in Indonesia Wednesday morning for consultations on the explosion that killed two people in the eastern part of Poland near the Ukraine border.
“There is preliminary information that contests that,” Biden told reporters when asked if the missile had been fired from Russia. “It is unlikely in the lines of the trajectory that it was fired from Russia, but we’ll see.”
Three U.S. officials said preliminary assessments suggested the missile was fired by Ukrainian forces at an incoming Russian missile amid a crushing salvo against Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure Tuesday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Ukraine still maintains stocks of former Soviet and Russian-made weaponry, including the S-300 air-defense missile system.
The president, who was awakened overnight by staff with the news of the missile explosion while in Indonesia for the Group of 20 summit, called Polish President Andrzej Duda early Wednesday to express his “deep condolences” for the loss of life. Biden promised on Twitter “full U.S support for and assistance with Poland’s investigation,” and “reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to NATO.”
