Poland ambassador claims his country acted with "full restraint" after missile killed two people. According to reports, the missile fell inside Polish territory on Tuesday, killing two Polish citizens and making people worry that Russia's war with Ukraine might get worse.
Krzysztof Szczerski told the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday that Poland started a "extensive multiphase investigation" right away into the incident, which Warsaw and NATO said was likely caused by a missile fired by Ukrainian forces protecting their country from Russian attacks.
“Poland is also conducting intensive consultations on the incident with its NATO allies and key partners,” he said, adding that the incident caused Poland to increase the combat readiness of a military unit that focuses on watching the airspace.
Two farmers were killed when the missile exploded near the Ukrainian border, about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) west of the small village of Przewodow in eastern Poland.
During the nearly nine-month conflict, Tuesday's event is the first time that a NATO country has been directly hit. This led to an emergency meeting of ambassadors from the US-led military alliance in Brussels on Wednesday.
Szczerski said that the incident “teaches us how close we actually live the potential escalation in the spillover of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine of far-reaching consequences that we all can perceive.”
He also said that the two Polish people killed “would not have been killed if there had been no Russian war against Ukraine.”
“„Their only fault was the fact that they lived close to the civilian infrastructure on the Ukrainian side of the border that Russia keeps attacking as a military target.- Krzysztof Szczerski, Poland Ambassador to the United Nations
Jens Stoltenberg, who is in charge of NATO, said that Russia has "ultimate responsibility" for what happened because it is still fighting an illegal war against Ukraine.
About the same time as the explosion, Russia fired the most missiles at Ukrainian cities in more than a month. Most of these missiles were aimed at energy infrastructure.
The Polish ambassador said that his country's initial thought was that the incident didn't happen on purpose.
“„The very initial findings support the hypothesis that the event was not a deliberate attack. But naturally, we need to wait for the final conclusion until the investigation is over.- Krzysztof Szczerski, Poland Ambassador to the United Nations
Polish President Andrzej Duda said Wednesday that investigations at the site where the missile landed will still be done together with the US. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has asked that Ukrainian experts be allowed to go to the site.
The US National Security Council said it has "full confidence" in Poland's investigation into the blast and that Russia's ongoing invasion is "ultimately responsible" for the incident.