NATO says preliminary analysis shows Polish blast caused by Ukrainian missile
NATO secretary-general says the missile that hit Poland during the Russian war on neighboring Ukraine, had likely been fired by Ukraine's military.
Speaking in Brussels following talks among the alliance's members, Jens Stoltenberg said an ongoing investigation finds "that the incident was likely caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile fired to defend Ukrainian territory against Russian cruise missile attacks."
The projectile hit Przewodów, a Polish village near the border with Ukraine, on Tuesday, killed two people and drove Western states and media outlets to rashly blame Russia for the incident.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said following the incident that the Western narrative was aimed at "a deliberate provocation aimed at escalating the situation."
Earlier on Wednesday, though, Poland's preliminary assessment also described the projectile that caused the incident as a stray missile fired by Ukraine's air defenses and not a Russian strike.
Polish President Andrzej Duda announced Poland's conclusion that the projectile likely originated from Ukraine's own air defenses. Duda said it was very likely that the Soviet-era missile was launched by Ukraine in what he called an "unfortunate accident".
Stoltenberg, however, placed the blame squarely on Russia for the reported incident.
"Let me be clear, this is not Ukraine's fault," the NATO chief said. "Russia bears ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine."
Russia has been conducting the "special military operation" in Ukraine since February.
Moscow says it has launched the operation in order to defend the pro-Russian population in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk against persecution by Kiev.
Back in 2014, the two republics broke away from Ukraine, refusing to recognize a Western-backed Ukrainian government there that had overthrown a democratically-elected Russia-friendly administration.
Ever since the beginning of the war, Western countries have been pumping Ukraine full of advanced weapons, something that Russia says would only prolong the hostilities.
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