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”.