Tuesday airstrikes on Ukraine were all at least 35 km from Polish border: Russia

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) – In the wake of a missile falling in eastern Poland, killing two, Russia said Wednesday that all its airstrikes in Ukraine on Tuesday were carried out only on the territory of that country, and all at least 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the Polish border.

The strikes were carried out with high-precision weapons and targeted Ukraine's system of military command and power systems connected to it, Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"All missiles fired at the military command system of Ukraine hit the designated targets precisely," the ministry said.

Photos of debris in the Polish village of Przewodow, which was hit Tuesday night, were identified as wreckage from Ukraine's S-300 air defense system, the ministry said.

"Statements about Russian missiles falling in the Polish settlement of Przewodow are a deliberate provocation with the aim of destabilizing the situation," the ministry stressed.

The military also denied strikes at Ukraine's capital Kyiv, saying that "the destruction in residential areas of Kyiv is a result of the falling and self-destruction of missiles fired by Ukrainian troops."

On Tuesday evening, Polish authorities reported that a missile hit the village of Przewodow.

On Wednesday, US military officials said initial findings suggests that the missile was fired by Ukrainian forces at an incoming Russian missile.

Earlier, US President Joe Biden also said that it was “unlikely” that a missile that killed two in NATO-ally Poland was fired from Russia.

NATO ambassadors will meet on Wednesday to discuss the incident.

The urgent meeting, chaired by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at NATO headquarters in Brussels, will discuss the "tragic incident" in which two people were killed, according to a statement by the alliance.