Russia says missile strike in Poland caused by Ukrainian air defence

Russia said on Wednesday that an explosion in Poland on Tuesday had been caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile, and that Russian strikes in Ukraine had been no closer than 35 km (22 miles) from the Polish border.

"The photos published in the evening of Nov. 15 in Poland of the wreckage found in the village of Przewodow are unequivocally identified by Russian defence industry specialists as elements of an anti-aircraft guided missile of the S-300 air defence system of the Ukrainian air force," the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.

It was not possible to independently verify the images or the identification.

The Kremlin on Wednesday criticised how some Western leaders had responded to the incident.

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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Russia had nothing to do with the blast, and said a number of countries had made "baseless statements" about Russia's involvement.

Peskov added that US President Joe Biden had shown "restraint" in his response to the blast.

NATO member Poland's president said earlier that Warsaw had no concrete evidence to determine who fired a missile that struck a Polish grain facility some 6 km (4 miles) inside the border with Ukraine, killing two people.

A NATO source said US President Joe Biden had informed Group of Seven and NATO partners that the blast in Poland had been caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile.

Russia's defence ministry also said it had not targeted Kyiv during yesterday's widespread strikes. Reuters journalists in the city reported missile strikes, including on residential buildings, and power outages across the city on Tuesday in some of the heaviest attacks in the nine-month conflict.