Controversy Over Whether Missile Strike in Przewodów, Poland Was Russian Missile or Ukrainian Defense Missile Fired at Russian Missile

Scenes from Przewodów, Poland where Russian missiles struck a grain dryer in a small farming village, Przewodów in Poland. YouTube Tips ⓘ

NATO members are investigating evidence following an explosion in Przewodów, Poland, but the source of the missile is inconclusive. Initially blame was placed on Russia as the source of the missile strike. The alternative scenario is that a Ukrainian defense missile, fired to knock out a Russian missile, was the source of the missile strike and explosion. The investigation in Poland is underway.

The incident in Poland occurred as Ukraine was being attacked by one of the most intense Russian missile attacks since the beginning of the war of the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

The heavy missile attack from Russian also affected the country of Moldova, where power outages occurred after Russian missile strikes knocked out a key power distribution line that supplies Moldova. With an east border located along the border of southwest Ukraine, Moldova has a north border that is about 205 miles southeast of Przewodów.

Preliminary information contests the line of thinking that the missile was fired from Russia, according to United States President Joe Biden.

Biden speaks after emergency roundtable on missile hit in Poland, saying there is preliminary information that contests that the missile was fired from Russia, and that it is unlikely that the trajectory would have been from Russia. YouTube Tips ⓘ

Uncredited and unvetted sources on Twitter have claimed that the photos of missile debris appear to show S-300 debris. The S-300 is widely known to be used by Ukraine and several other countries in eastern Europe and Asia, and Russia and the People’s Republic of China.

Ukraine has used S-300 for air defense, and Russia has used S-300 missiles configured for land strikes. In October 2022 Euromaiden Press reported that Russia launched five S-300 missiles from Belgorod into Kharkiv, Ukraine. When considering Russia as a launch source of an S-300 missile strike in Poland, the range and launch site of a Russian launch source is an important part of the investigation.

US Pentagon Pat Ryder confirmed on Tuesday, November 15, 2022 that the Pentagon is aware that Polish media sources are reporting that a Russian missile crossed into Poland and killed two people. Polish government spokesman Piotr Mueller said top leaders were holding an emergency meeting due to a “crisis situation,” but did not confirm the subject of the crisis situation.

Polish media reported that two people died Tuesday afternoon after a missile struck an area where grain is dried in Przewodów, a Polish village in southeast Poland near the border with northwest Ukraine. The population of the village is 710. Przewodów is also just north of Lviv, Ukraine, which was heavily shelled by Russia in March 2022.

Pentagon briefing on reports of Russian missiles crossing into Poland (USA Today). YouTube Tips ⓘ

Get updates from The Cardinal ALL NEWS FEEDS on Facebook. Just ‘LIKE’ the ‘Arlington Cardinal Page (become a fan of our page). The updates cover all posts and sub-category posts from The Cardinal — Arlingtoncardinal.com. You can also limit feeds to specific categories. See all of The Cardinal Facebook fan pages at Arlingtoncardinal.com/about/facebook …

After the explosion in Poland, Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki called an urgent meeting of a committee for national security and defense affairs. He stated that Polish President Andrzej Duda spoke to Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg regarding the possibility of activating Article 4 of NATO charter.

Meanwhile, Poland was raising the alert level of some of its military units after the conclusion of the meeting, a government spokesperson from Poland.

Article 4 is generally considered the starting point for major NATO operations, and therefore is intended for potential developing emergencies. Article officially calls for consultation over military matters when “the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the parties is threatened.” Upon the invocation of Article 4, the issue is discussed in the North Atlantic Council, which may lead to a formal joint decision or action (logistic, military, etc.) on behalf of NATO.

The Russian Ministry of Defense issued a denial that “strikes on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish state border were made by Russian means of destruction,” and stated that the wreckage found at the scene did not involve Russian weapons. The Ministry called the claims of Polish deaths a “deliberate provocation with the aim of escalating the situation.”

On November 15, 2022, another massive shelling of the entire territory of Ukraine and its critical infrastructure, conducted by the armed forces of the Russian Federation, took place for many hours. At 15:40 in the village of Przewodów in the Hrubieszów district in the Lublin province, a Russian-made missile fell, as a result of which two citizens of the Republic of Poland were killed. In connection with this event, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zbigniew Rau, summoned the ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and demanded immediate detailed explanations.

— Lukasz Jasina, MFA Spokesperson (Ministry of Foreign Affair Poland)

While the Polish Foreign Ministry confirmed the missile was Russian, there are claims on social media that the fragments at the scene are from a Ukrainian defense missile.