Poland confirmed on Thursday that the missile that struck its territory in November 2022 and killed two civilians in a village near the border with Ukraine was launched by Kiev forces while confronting a Russian attack.
Two workers in a grain drying factory died as a result of an explosion caused by a missile falling in the village of Bzhivodov, located about 6 kilometers from the border.
The incident came while Ukrainian air defenses were confronting a Russian missile attack that targeted infrastructure and energy facilities.
A number of officials at the time, including officials in Poland, a member of NATO, suggested that the missile came from Ukrainian air defenses, while Moscow denied any responsibility.
Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro resolved these doubts by confirming, on Thursday, that “the investigation conducted by Polish prosecutors led to an unequivocal conclusion that this missile is Ukrainian.”
He pointed out that “taking into account where it was launched and by which military unit, it is a Ukrainian missile,” explaining that it was “of Soviet-Russian manufacture.”
The minister regretted the absence of “any cooperation on this issue with Kiev for months.”
The fall of the missile at the time raised fears of a sharp escalation in the Ukraine war, as Poland’s membership in NATO requires other members to defend it if its territory is exposed to an attack by a third party.
In the period following the fall of the missile, Warsaw suggested that this “unfortunate accident” was caused by a missile from the Ukrainian defense systems.
Polish President Andrzej Duda said at the time: “Nothing indicates that it was a deliberate attack on Poland.”
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2023-09-29 04:42:09
