The United States and its NATO allies are investigating the blast that killed two in Poland but early information suggests it may not have been caused by a missile fired from Russia, the US said.
Initial findings suggest that the missile that hit Poland was fired by Ukrainian forces at an incoming Russian missile, Associated Press reported on Wednesday, citing US officials.
US President Joe Biden held an emergency NATO meeting on Wednesday with world leaders who were gathered in Bali, Indonesia for the G20 meeting.
The meeting comes after two people were killed in an explosion in Przewodow, a village in eastern Poland near the border with Ukraine.
Poland's foreign ministry said the rocket fell on the Polish village at 3:40pm on Tuesday (local time).
The explosion reportedly killed two men who were at a grain facility.
It came as Russia unleashed a wave of missile attacks targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure, raising concerns the conflict could spill into neighbouring countries.
Poland summoned Russia's ambassador to Warsaw for an explanation after Moscow denied it was responsible.
AP earlier cited a senior US intelligence official who said the blast was due to Russian missiles having crossed into Poland.
When asked about claims the blast was linked to Russia, Biden said: "There is preliminary information that contests that. I don't want to say that until we completely investigate it but it is unlikely in the lines of the trajectory that it was fired from Russia but we’ll see."
The US and NATO countries would fully investigate before acting, Biden said.
Leaders from the United States, Germany, Canada, Netherlands, Japan, Spain, Italy, France and the United Kingdom were taking part in the meeting. All except for Japan are members of NATO, the defence alliance that also includes Poland.
A determination that Moscow was to blame for the blast could trigger NATO's principle of collective defence known as Article 5, in which an attack on one of the Western alliance's members is deemed an attack on all, starting deliberations on a potential military response.
Poland has said it was verifying whether it needed to request consultations under Article 4 of the alliance, which allows NATO members to bring any issue of concern, especially regarding security, for discussion at the North Atlantic Council.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said it was a "significant escalation" of the conflict but Russia's defence ministry has denied the reports, describing them as "a deliberate provocation aimed at escalating the situation".
Russian Denial
Russia's defence ministry denied that Russian missiles hit Polish territory, describing such reports as "a deliberate provocation aimed at escalating the situation".
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, meanwhile, said he had no information about the incident.
Poland's president believes it was a one-off incident
Poland President Andrzej Duda has spoken to the US' Joe Biden, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Zelensky. The White House said Biden and Stoltenberg have also spoken by phone.
Duda said Poland had no definite evidence of who fired the rocket and believed what happened was a one-off incident.
Earlier, Poland Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki held a meeting of a committee for national security and defence affairs on Tuesday night (local time). After the meeting, government spokesman Piotr Muller confirmed an explosion had killed two Polish citizens and it had raised the readiness of its military units.
Muller declined to take any questions including about the cause of the incident.
Morawiecki said the government decided to increase the monitoring of Poland's airspace and urged citizens to remain calm.
Earlier, in the United States, the Pentagon, White House and US State Department said they could not corroborate the reports from Poland and were working with the Polish government to gather more information.
"We are aware of the press reports alleging that two Russian missiles have struck a location inside Poland near the Ukraine border. I can tell you that we don't have any information at this time to corroborate those reports and are looking into this further," Pentagon spokesperson Brig Gen Patrick Ryder told a news briefing, while the State Department described the report as "incredibly concerning".
World leaders react to Poland blast
Speaking from Vietnam, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said reports of a missile landing in Poland was "concerning".
"First and foremost, I want to extend the deep condolences of New Zealand for the loss of those lives. Secondly, we are utterly consistent in the ongoing condemnation of Russia's illegal war in Ukraine. We also condemn all targeting of Ukrainian infrastructure. As I said in the presence of the Russian Foreign Minister, this war must end."
She said NATO members are currently trying to establish the facts and New Zealand would be listening to information from NATO members.
"We await further information around what precisely has happened, but in the meantime, our condemnation remains."
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he had been briefed by his foreign and defence ministers on the matter.
"We are urgently looking into reports of a missile strike in Poland and will support our allies as they establish what has happened," he said. "We are also coordinating with our international partners, including NATO."
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was "alarmed" by the reports.
"We are closely monitoring the situation and are in touch with Polish authorities and partners and allies," she said on Twitter.
"I extend my condolences and my strongest message of support and solidarity with Poland and our Ukrainian friends."
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the reports were "serious" and made it very important to establish what had happened.
"We are in close contact with Poland and our other NATO partners," he wrote on social media. "It is important now to establish what exactly has happened."
Estonia's foreign ministry said the news from Poland was "most concerning", adding Estonia was ready to defend "every inch of NATO territory".
Latvia Deputy Prime Minister Artis Pabriks also sent condolences to Poland in a Twitter post.
"Criminal Russian regime fired missiles which target not only Ukrainian civilians but also landed on NATO territory in Poland," he wrote. "Latvia fully stands with Polish friends and condemns this crime."
Russia was pounding cities across Ukraine with missiles on Tuesday, in attacks Kyiv said were the heaviest wave of missile strikes in nearly nine months of war. Some hit Lviv, which is less than 80kms from the border with Poland.
Reuters / Newshub.
