• Tuesday, 19 November 2024

NATO, Poland report 'no indication' missile blast was deliberate

NATO, Poland report 'no indication' missile blast was deliberate
Brussels, 16 November 2022 (dpa/MIA) - Poland and NATO's top officials said on Wednesday that there was 'no indication' a missile blast the day before on the alliance member's territory bordering Ukraine was a deliberate Russian attack. “We have no indication that this was the result of a deliberate attack. And we have no indication that Russia is preparing offensive military actions against NATO,” Jens Stoltenberg said in Brussels. Stoltenberg spoke after alliance members conducted crisis talks a day after a missile killed two people in Poland near the Ukrainian border. “Our preliminary analysis suggests that the incident was likely caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile fired to defend Ukrainian territory against Russian cruise missile attacks,” Stoltenberg said, echoing Polish President Andrzej Duda. The strike came amid a wave of missiles fired at Ukraine on Tuesday, in one of Russia's first large-scale attacks on the country since Russia withdrew from parts of Kherson last week, triggering massive power outages. On Tuesday afternoon, two people died when a missile hit a farm in the Polish village of Przewodów, some 6 kilometres from the border with Ukraine, according to the Polish Foreign Ministry. Warsaw had confirmed earlier that the rocket was Russian-made. Both Ukraine and Russia use Soviet-designed missiles, with Ukraine defending as Moscow continues to wage its war against its neighbour. Russia denied targeting Poland and defended Tuesday's round of missile attacks on Ukraine as a strike on the country's "military command system" and "associated energy facilities," according to Russian Defence Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov. Stoltenberg said the incident did "not have the characteristics of an attack against NATO territory" and praised the allies "prudent and responsible" reaction late on Tuesday. The top NATO official stressed, however, that the blast "doesn't say anything" against the alliance's ability "to defend against deliberate attacks against NATO territory." "It hasn't changed our fundamental assessment of that threat against NATO allies," Stoltenberg said, underlining the alliance's recent actions to bolster the defences of members in Eastern Europe. NATO also had no plans to consult under Article 4, Stoltenberg said, based on the ongoing results of the investigation. Poland also agreed this was not necessary, though it did present a diplomatic note to Russia's embassy in Moscow regarding the incident. Article 4 says consultations with other NATO countries can take place when one member's territorial integrity, political independence or security is under threat. Russia later accused Poland of deliberately muddying the waters and sowing confusion in relation to the incident, noting that there would have been clarity if Warsaw had immediately made known that the missiles discovered were from a defence system. Stoltenberg also said "Russia bears ultimate responsibility" for the incident as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine." Ahead of Stoltenberg's comments, Belgian Defence Minister Ludivine Dedonder said Ukraine's air defences appeared to have been a factor in the missile blast. US President Joe Biden had earlier informed fellow world leaders at a G20 summit on the Indonesian island of Bali that there were indications that blast was an anti-aircraft missile from Ukraine. Earlier on Wednesday, the G20 group of leading world economies - including Russia - issued a joint summit declaration that included sharp language on Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. "Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine," the text reads, while noting that "there were other views and different assessments of the situation." Moscow, which was represented at the G20 summit by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, had initially resisted such language. Negotiators had been unsure whether the group of 20 leading nations would even manage to agree on a joint statement. Meanwhile, most power outages after Tuesday's Russian missile strikes on Ukraine have been fixed, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.