Biden says missile that killed two in Poland may not have come from Russia

A missile that killed two people in Poland was probably not fired from Russia, US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday after holding talks with leaders of Western allies amid concerns the Ukraine conflict could spill into neighbouring countries.

The explosion on Tuesday at a grain facility near the Ukrainian border came as Russia unleashed a wave of missiles targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure, attacks that Kyiv said were the heaviest in nearly nine months of war.

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The Polish foreign ministry said the rocket fell on Przewodow, a village about 6 km (4 miles) from the border with Ukraine.

Russia denied it was responsible for the explosion, however Polish President Andrzej Duda told reporters it was "most likely a Russian-made missile", but there was no concrete evidence showing who fired the missile and that it was a one-off incident.

Polish President Andrzej Duda speaks to the media. File/AFP

A Russian strike on Poland could risk widening the conflict between Russia and Ukraine as members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are committed to collective defence under its Article 5.

Biden convened a meeting of leaders gathered in Bali, Indonesia, for a G20 summit to discuss the incident. Leaders from NATO members Germany, Canada, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France and Britain attended, as well as non-NATO member Japan and representatives from the European Union.

Asked whether it was too early to say if the missile was fired from Russia, Biden said: "There is preliminary information that contests that. I don't want to say that until we completely investigate it, but it is unlikely in the lines of the trajectory that it was fired from Russia but we’ll see.”

The United States and NATO countries would fully investigate before acting, Biden said.

NATO ambassadors are expected to meet later on Wednesday.

Reuters