Russia’s Defense Ministry identifies missile that struck Poland as Ukraine's S-300

The Russian Ministry of Defense has claimed that the missile that landed in a grain facility at a farm in Poland and killed two is of Ukrainian origin. Separate reports by the United States and Russia’s Defense Ministry have stated that the missile that struck Poland was most likely a Ukrainian S-300, part of its air defences, that had been attempting to fend off a missile attack by Russia.

In a statement following the missile strike on Poland, Russia’s Defense Ministry clarified on Tuesday that it had not targeted anywhere between 35 kilometers of Ukraine’s border with Poland, reported TASS. Moreover, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed in its statement that the narrative being spread by various Ukrainian sources and foreign officials of “Russian missiles” striking the village of Przewodów is deliberately aimed at escalating the situation amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.  

Investigation on missile’s origin point towards Ukraine  

Even though the Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have identified the wreckage as a Ukrainian S-300 from the photographs, NATO representatives met in Brussels to discuss the incident and identify the origin of the missile which killed two people in Poland.  

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden suggested in a statement following the missile strike that it is “unlikely” that the missile was fired from Russia. Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated that the missile which landed in Poland was “most likely” part of Ukraine’s air defence systems. However, he maintained “this is not Ukraine’s fault”, reported The Guardian.  

He further accused Russia of being responsible for what transpired in Poland on Tuesday “because this is a direct result of the ongoing war and the wave of attacks from Russia against Ukraine yesterday."

He also added that NATO was preparing to prevent accidents like this from happening and to ensure that such accidents don’t lead to the situation spiraling out of control in case they cannot be prevented.  

After initial accusations targeting Russia for the missile strike, Poland on Wednesday stated that there is “absolutely no indication” that the missile which struck the Polish farmland was an intentional attack on the NATO country. It further agreed that neighbour Ukraine likely launched the Soviet-era projectile as it defended its airspace against a Russian air assault that savaged its power grid.