Poland probably hit by Ukrainian missile: NATO chief

London: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that it was probably a Ukrainian missile that hit Poland earlier this week resulting in the deaths of two civilians.

Speaking to the BBC on Wednesday night, the NATO chief said: “Most likely this is a Ukrainian air defence missile.”

His remark comes as investigations continue into the blast on Tuesday night on a farm in Przewodow, 6 km from Poland’s border with Ukraine.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ukrainian air defence systems were activated after Russia launched what is believed to be its biggest wave of missile strikes in the nine months since the invasion on February 24.

Stoltenberg said NATO had pledged in response to supply a “more advanced air defence system” to Ukraine which is not a member of the alliance but receives extensive military aid.

“Today I attended a meeting of a support group for Ukraine where Nato allies and partners made new pledges for more advanced air defence systems so we can help to shoot down Russian missiles,” he told the BBC.

“But the best way to prevent any instances like this in the future is for Russia to stop war. We have no indication that this is a deliberate attack from Russia.”

He however, said that there was “no doubt that Russia is responsible because this would not have happened if Russia had not launched a barrage of missile attacks against Ukrainian cities yesterday, as they have done many times before during this war”.

When asked about the possibility of peace negotiations between Moscow and Kiev, Stoltenberg told the BBC that previous attempts had shown that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had “no willingness to compromise and negotiate”.

“We have to understand if Putin and Russia stop fighting we will have peace but if (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky and Ukraine stop fighting, then Ukraine will cease to exist as an independent sovereign nation,” he added.

Regarding Tuesday’s blast, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that it was an accident, reports Ukrayiniska Pravda.

He added that Warsaw did not consider the incident an attack on the country since the fallen missile was probably fired by Ukrainian Air Defence Forces.

Meanwhile, Zelensky has demanded an investigation into the incident involving specialists from Ukraine.

“One of the main issues at the UN Security Council is the situation in Poland, clarifying all the circumstances of how Russian aggression crossed the Polish border. The Ukrainian position is very transparent, we strive to establish all the details, every fact.

“That is why we need our specialists to join the work of the international investigation and that we have access to all the data available to our partners and to the site of the explosion,” he said in his nightly video address to the nation on Wednesday.

The President however, still maintains that the missile is not Ukrainian and believes that it was Russian.

(IANS)