Poland has no concrete evidence showing who fired the missile that caused an explosion in a village near the Ukrainian border, President Andrzej Duda said on Wednesday. He added that it was very likely that Poland would activate NATO Article 4 at the Alliance meeting later that day. U.S. President Joe Biden offered his Polish counterpart full U.S. support with the country's probe into a blast that killed two people near the border with Ukraine, the White House said. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that Poland would increase surveillance of its airspace following the incident.
Poland has no conclusive evidence showing who fired the missile that caused an explosion in a village near the Ukrainian border, the president said on Wednesday, adding that Warsaw remained calm in the face of what he described as a "one-off" incident.
"First of all, I want to assure everyone that we work in a very calm way, very carefully, we do not take any rash decisions and I ask everyone to stay calm. Polish soldiers are at the scene, we have allies' support, and all the commitments towards us are in place," Duda said.
"Up to this point, we can say that what happened was an isolated incident. Nothing implicates that others can follow."
Two people were killed in the explosion in Przewodów, about 6 km (3.5 miles) from the border with Ukraine, firefighters said. Media reports said the strike hit a grain-drying facility.
"Of course, we know that all day today Russia was attacking Ukraine with rockets, but we do not have any conclusive evidence at the moment as to who launched this missile, the investigation is underway. I deeply believe that the investigators will clarify that. It was most likely a Russian-made missile, but this is all still under investigation at the moment," Andrzej Duda told reporters.
The Polish foreign ministry had earlier said that a Russian-made rocket had fallen on the village.
Duda said that it was very likely that Poland would request consultations under Article 4 of the NATO military alliance following the blast.
"Our ambassador will be attending the meeting of the North Atlantic Council tomorrow at 10 a.m. at NATO headquarters ... it is highly likely that the ambassador will request the activation of Article 4, or allied consultations," he said.
Morawiecki: we increase combat readiness
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that Poland would increase surveillance of its airspace following the incident.
"First of all, we have decided to increase the combat readiness for chosen military groups of the Polish army, especially when it comes to surveillance of the airspace and this surveillance of the airspace is taking place and will be taking place in cooperation with our allies," Morawiecki said at a press briefing.
"We hold the analysis and consultations with our allies regarding possible use of possibility of Article 4 of Washington Treaty so the Article that triggers consultations among the NATO military alliance, we are verifying the grounds on which the Article 4 can be used," he added.
"We have also decided to call the ambassador of Russian Federation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The minister of foreign affairs will soon talk to the Russian ambassador. We stay in touch with the government of Ukraine. Mister President (Andrzej Duda) spoke to Mister President (Volodymyr Zelenskiy). I am in touch with the prime minister of Ukraine," the prime minister said.
"We are also working with international experts on identifying the causes (of) what took place and everything that happened during this incident. We invited them to our group of experts and our forensics, who have already been at the scene for a few hours," Morawiecki informed.
Polish MFA spokesperson Łukasz Jasina said on Wednesday that the ministry chief Zbigniew Rau had already spoken with the Russian Ambassador Sergey Andreiev and demanded immediate and detailed explanation of the incident.
Biden offers full U.S. support
Earlier on Andrzej Duda had also spoken over the phone with his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden.
"I can assure everyone that (U.S.) President Joe Biden said loud and clear that the United States keep the alliances, the United States are with us, all the regulations of the NATO treaty and alliance commitments are still in place and the United States stand with us on the protection of Polish security, as well as the whole NATO," Duda said at the conference.
"(U.S.) President Joe Biden declared that he will support us (by sending) American experts who will help us examine the scene of this tragic incident, so it will be cooperation, we can even say allied," he added.
"President Biden offered full U.S support for and assistance with Poland’s investigation," the White House said after the pair spoke.
The White House also said taht Biden had "expressed deep condolences for the loss of life in Eastern Poland earlier this evening".
"President Duda described Poland’s ongoing assessment of the explosion that took place in the eastern part of the country near the border with Ukraine," we read.
"President Biden reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to NATO. The two leaders said that they and their teams should remain in close touch to determine appropriate next steps as the investigation proceeds," the White House added.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Reuters