A missile that killed two people in Poland near the border with Ukraine was “unlikely” to have been fired from Russia, US president Joe Biden said after an emergency meeting with western leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.
Poland has convened emergency talks with its Nato allies after what Warsaw said was a strike by a “Russian-made missile” in the village of Przewodów at 3.40pm local time on Tuesday.
Photographs posted on social media showed a damaged farm vehicle lying on its side next to a large crater. Local media reported the casualties were farm workers.
Biden said on Wednesday there was “preliminary information that contests [the missile was fired from Russia]”.
“It is unlikely in the lines of the trajectory that it was fired from Russia but we’ll see,” he told reporters, adding that there was a need to “completely investigate” the incident.
“There was total unanimity around the table” in support for Poland, Biden added after the emergency meeting with the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Canada, Japan, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, plus the presidents of the European Council and European Commission.
Biden’s remarks came after Poland’s president and prime minister did not confirm allegations that the missile was fired by Russia during a midnight news conference in which they both appeared to avoid statements that could escalate tensions with Moscow.
“There is no conclusive evidence about who fired the rocket,” said President Andrzej Duda after an emergency security meeting of the Polish government. Duda also referred to the missile strike as a “one-off incident”.
If, however, Poland’s investigation confirms that the missile was fired by Russia, it would be the first strike on a Nato country since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Poland will discuss the missile strike with its Nato allies on Wednesday. Duda said that Poland would “most likely” trigger Article 4 of the Nato treaty, which concerns discussions on a potential threat to an alliance member, before considering Article 5, which would require other Nato members to come to its defence.
Russia’s defence ministry denied responsibility, adding claims the missile was fired by its forces were a “deliberate provocation with the goal of escalating the situation”. The Polish foreign minister summoned the Russian ambassador for “immediate detailed explanations”, while Poland’s representative to the UN wrote on Twitter that he would raise the issue at the Security Council.
The White House said Biden had spoken to Duda. Both the Pentagon and the US National Security Council said they could not corroborate claims Russia was behind the strike.
In his call with Duda, Biden offered “full US support for and assistance with Poland’s investigation” and reaffirmed Washington’s “ironclad commitment to Nato”, according to the White House.
The explosion in eastern Poland came amid a Russian barrage of missiles fired on Ukrainian cities that damaged energy infrastructure as well as civilian buildings.
Ukrainian officials, including president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, were quick to blame Russia for the Polish strike, though they offered no specific evidence to back the claims.
“Russian missiles hit Poland,” Zelenskyy said in a video address on Tuesday evening, adding that Moscow had launched 90 missiles targeting Ukraine.
After speaking with Duda, Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter that “Ukraine, Poland, all of Europe and the world must be fully protected from terrorist Russia”.
Leaders of several Nato countries in central and eastern Europe warned that the strike would mark a significant escalation of the conflict if the Polish investigation proved the Kremlin was behind the attack.
Two Nato officials told the Financial Times that the situation had provoked concern but not panic within the alliance.
Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that Warsaw would “increase the preparedness of selected units of the Polish armed forces with particular emphasis on airspace monitoring” and with assistance from the country’s allies. Duda said that “all the leaders I spoke to today absolutely assured me of allied support”, adding that “we will consider this matter together”.
In a further sign of potential for the conflict to spill over, Moldova reported on Tuesday that it had lost electricity after the missile strikes in Ukraine, as a power line linking the two countries had automatically been disconnected.
Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister, called on the west to provide further air defence systems to protect the country against Russian strikes.
Additional reporting by James Politi in Washington