Two people were killed in a Polish village close to the Ukrainian border on Tuesday night in a reported Russian missile strike, sparking fears that Russia’s 9-month invasion of Ukraine could be taking a far graver turn with an attack on a NATO member.
The missile strike hit a grain processing plant in Przewodów, some 5km (3 miles) from the border, killing the two Polish citizens.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki subsequently called an urgent meeting of Poland’s council of ministers for national security and defense, although government spokesperson Piotr Müller did not immediately specify the reason for the decision.
Moscow has denied that Russian missiles caused the deadly strike, dismissing such claims as “deliberate provocation.”
The White House said that it could not confirm the reports of a Russian strike on Polish soil, but that it was working with Warsaw to understand what had happened.
Analysts have suggested that the strike could have been caused by an errant Russian missile or fallout from an interception by Ukrainian air defenses, but did not entirely rule out a deliberate strike by Moscow.
The incident came as Russia subjected Ukrainian civilian targets to heavy missile bombardments, causing massive damage to energy and water infrastructure in multiple residential areas.
It also came as world leaders gathered in Bali for the G20, to which Russian President Vladimir Putin chose to send his foreign minister Sergey Lavrov rather than attending in person.