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Poland says missile that killed two in 2022 was Ukrainian

Published September 28,2023
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A view shows damages after an explosion in Przewodow, a village in eastern Poland near the border with Ukraine, in this image obtained from social media by Reuters released on November 15, 2022. (File Photo)

A missile that killed two people in a Polish village in November, raising fears of a dangerous spike in the Ukraine conflict, belonged to Kyiv's forces, Warsaw said Thursday.

Two workers at a grain drying facility died in the blast in Przewodow, some six kilometres (four miles) from the Ukrainian border, raising fears of an escalation in the war between Moscow and Kyiv.

But Warsaw and the NATO military alliance, of which Poland is member, later said the explosion was likely caused by a Ukrainian air-defence missile launched to intercept a Russian barrage.

Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro on Thursday said an "investigation carried out by Polish prosecutors led to ... an unequivocal opinion... that this missile was Ukrainian".

He said the finding was based on the "place where the missile was fired from", adding that the projectile was of Soviet production.

Ziobro also said he regretted that "for months, there was no cooperation" from Ukraine over the probe.

Poland's far-right Confederation party has said Kyiv should pay compensation for the incident.