International reactions following Poland's announcement of rockets on its territory

International reactions following Poland's announcement of rockets on its territory

International reactions followed Poland's announcement that two missiles had landed on its territory, allegedly from Russia, which was denied by the Russian Ministry of Defence as a deliberate provocation aimed at escalating the situation.

Poland announces the lifting of its armed forces' readiness and alleges that the rocket that landed on the town of Bashivodov was Russian-made.

Polish officials'

statements about the identity of

the rocket that landed in the town of Bashivodov differ. Contrary to the allegations of the Foreign Ministry, President Andrzej Duda said that there was no precise information about the identity of the missile and what indicated that Russia had launched it.

The Russian Ministry of Defence denies that Russian forces fired any missiles towards the Ukrainian-Polish border area, and describes the incident as a "deliberate provocation".

US President Joe Biden states that

preliminary information refutes the premise that

the rocket that landed in Poland was launched from Russia.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rules out that Moscow has anything to do with rocket hits in Poland, and confirms the validity of the Russian position, which denies the validity of allegations made by Polish media.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expresses his solidarity with Polish President Andrzej Duda and confirms his country's stand with NATO partner Poland.

British Prime Minister

• Rishi Sunak expresses solidarity

• with Poland and offers Polish Prime Minister

• assistance to investigate what happened.

France calls for

• "maximum caution" regarding the source of

• the rocket that landed in Poland

• and stresses that "several States"

• own the same kind of weapon in the area

• warning of a "significant escalation risk".

The President of the European Union

Charles Michel, expresses his "shock" at reports of a missile strike.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

after talks with Polish President Andrzej Duda, stresses the importance of knowing the facts about the cause of the explosion in Poland.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Russia has nothing to do with yesterday's rocket crash in Poland.

Biden doubts that

the rocket that landed in Poland was launched from Russia

US President Joe Biden says preliminary information refutes the premise that the rocket that landed in Poland was launched from Russia.

The preliminary information refutes this hypothesis

• and I don't want to say this until the investigation is complete

• but it is unlikely, in terms of course

• that this missile was launched from Russia."

Biden added that he would follow up on the exact circumstances of the missile accident in Poland and then determine what steps should be taken.

He also said that during the meeting

NATO and G7 leaders discussed the missile incident

in Poland and agreed to assist Warsaw's investigation.

The Associated Press later quoted US officials as saying that

"preliminary data indicates that the rocket that

landed in Poland was fired by Ukrainian forces to intercept a Russian missile."

In the same vein

the Pentagon announced that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had spoken with Poland's Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of Defence, to discuss the current security situation along NATO's eastern flank, and reports of rocket hits on Polish territory.

The United States Secretary of

Defense assured his Polish counterpart

reaffirmed the United States'

firm commitment to defending Poland and the willingness of the Ministry of Defence to assist it in any investigation, and agreed to coordinate closely with their NATO allies on next steps.

For its part

the Russian Ministry of Defence said earlier that statements by Polish media and officials about "Russian" rocket hits in the Bashivodov region were deliberate provocation.

The ministry added :

in a statement that this deliberate provocation was aimed at escalating the situation, stressing that Russian forces did not strike targets near

the Ukrainian-Polish border.