Reports of the missiles hitting Poland, a Nato member, came as Russia launched new attacks against Ukraine on Tuesday, days after being forced to withdraw its soldiers from Kherson.
The Moscow defense ministry attacked what it called “a premeditated provocation intended to escalate the situation,” rejecting suggestions that Russia was at fault.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, likewise stated that he did not know about the explosion.
Instead, Ukrainian missiles, according to the Russian state news agency Ria Novosti, struck Polish territory.
However, Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister of Ukraine, claimed that any accusation that his country was to blame was a “conspiracy theory” and that anyone who was repeating the message was disseminating “Russian propaganda.”
Andrzej Duda, the president of Poland, told reporters that the cause of the explosion remained unknown and that investigators were looking at all possibilities.
Online images revealed what seemed to be a sizable crater on what local media identified as Polish farmland, indicating missile damage. A missile fragment emerged in another image.
There were concerns over whether Warsaw would invoke article 4 of the NATO treaty, which requires member states to consult when a member state’s territorial integrity, political independence, or security is in jeopardy.
Warsaw stated that it was debating whether to apply the clause.
Nato has been cautious not to get too deeply involved in the crisis to prevent an escalation while assisting Ukraine since Russia’s incursion.
Along with denouncing Tuesday’s “barbaric missile attacks” by Russia, the G7 also issued a statement addressing the “explosion” in Ukraine.
In the meantime, Antonio Guterres, the secretary general of the UN, expressed his “great worry” about the explosion in Poland and demanded a thorough investigation.
Andrzej Duda, the president of Poland, held a conversation with Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who added that the military alliance was “watching the situation.”
The assaults followed one of the Russian forces’ largest bombardments of Ukraine since the war’s start.
According to Yuri Ihnatw, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, more than 90 missiles were fired at Ukraine on Tuesday, and more than 70 of them were successfully shot down.
The majority of the rockets fired, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, were intended for the nation’s energy infrastructure.
