Biden: Missiles in Poland may not have been thrown by Russia

Tuesday's explosion in a Polish village near the Ukrainian border occurred after Russia launched a wave of missile attacks against Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

Poland's Foreign Ministry said the missiles fell to Perzejvodov about 6km from the Ukrainian border.

Russia denied it is responsible for the explosion, though Polish officials said the missiles were Russian production.

Poland is a NATO member country and the Russian attack on its territory would jeopardise the expansion of conflict beyond Ukraine, as NATO is committed to collective defence.

Article 5 of the NATO Treaty says the attack on a military coalition member state is an attack on all.

Beden called a meeting of leaders gathered in Bali, Indonesia, for the summit of the group of most industrialized countries, G20.

Asked whether it is early to say that the missiles that fell in Poland were thrown by Russia, Biden said:

There's some preliminary information opposing this. I don't want to say this until we fully investigate, but there's no way in the trajectory line that they've been thrown out of Russia. But we'll see”.

Biden said the United States and other NATO countries will make full investigations before acting.

The explosion in Poland occurred after Russia attacked several Ukrainian cities with rockets.

Some rockets also hit Lviv, located less than 50 miles [80 km] from the Poland border.

Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said Russian missiles hit Poland, significantly escalating the conflict. However, he presented no evidence of Russia's involvement.

“All over Europe and the world must be fully protected by terrorist Russia”, Zelensky wrote on Twitter, following a call with Polish President Andreze Duda.

Two European diplomats said Poland called for a NATO meeting, expected to be held during today, according to Article 4 of the NATO Treaty for consultations among allies.

Poland also increased the readiness of several military units, Polish Prime Minister Matthews Morawiecki said.

Morawiecki called on the Polish to stay calm, while President Duda said there is no concrete evidence showing who threw the missiles.

During a telephone conversation, Biden told Duda that Washington has a “strong devotion to NATO” and that it would support Poland's investigations, the White House said.

The Associated Press news agency earlier quoted a senior American intelligence official as saying that the explosion in Poland occurred as a result of Russian missiles passing through the country.

But in Washington, the Pentagon, the White House and the U.S. State Department said that they can't confirm these reports and that they're working with the Polish Government to collect more information.

Germany and Canada said they are monitoring the situation, and the European Union, the Netherlands and Norway said they are looking for more details.

Russia's Defence Ministry denied that Russian missiles hit Polish territory, saying such reports are “a deliberate provocation, aimed at escalation of the” situation.