Live: Biden says ‘unlikely’ missile that hit Poland fired from Russia

04:34am: Poland likely to invoke NATO’s Article 4, will raise missile blast with UN 

Poland is likely to request consultations under NATO’s Article 4 after a missile, reportedly Russian-made, struck Polish territory near the border with Ukraine, and raise the issue at a UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday, officials said.

Two people were killed in an explosion in a village 6 kilometres (3.5 miles) from the border, with Polish President Andrzej Duda saying that Poland had no conclusive evidence showing who fired the missile. 

03:52am: UN chief warns against escalating conflict in Ukraine

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres tweeted early Wednesday that he was ‘very concerned by the reports of a missile exploding on Polish territory.’ 

The UN chief added that ‘it is absolutely essential to avoid escalating the war in Ukraine.’

03:30am: Poland blast may not be from missile fired from Russia, Biden says

The United States and its NATO allies are investigating the blast that killed two in Poland, but early information suggests it may not have been caused by a missile fired from Russia, US President Joe Biden said.

Biden spoke after global leaders gathered for the G20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia, held an emergency meeting on Wednesday after deadly explosions in Poland that Ukraine and Polish authorities said were caused by Russian-made missiles.

Asked whether it was too early to say that the missile was fired from Russia, Biden said: “There is preliminary information that contests that. I don’t want to say that until we completely investigate it but it is unlikely in the lines of the trajectory that it was fired from Russia but we’ll see.”

The US and NATO countries would fully investigate before acting, he added.

01:15am: G7 leaders arranging emergency summit after Poland missile strike, reports Kyodo news agency

Group of Seven leaders are arranging an emergency summit meeting on Wednesday in response to a missile strike in Poland, the Kyodo news agency said citing a Japanese government source.

A Japan and United Kingdom meeting scheduled for the same day has been put on hold, according to the report.

12:57am: No concrete evidence on who fired missile, Poland’s Duda says

Poland has no concrete evidence showing who fired the missile that caused an explosion in a village near the Ukrainian border, the president said on Wednesday

“We do not have any conclusive evidence at the moment as to who launched this missile… it was most likely a Russian-made missile, but this is all still under investigation at the moment,” Andrzej Duda told reporters.

01:24

12:38am: Poland increasing monitoring of its airspace, PM says

Poland has decided to increase surveillance of its airspace, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Wednesday, as he confirmed that Poland was studying the possibility of requesting consultations under Article 4 of the NATO military alliance treaty.

12:04am: Biden offers Poland full US support in blast investigation

President Joe Biden offered his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda full US support with the country’s probe into a blast that killed two people near the border with Ukraine, the White House said.

“President Biden offered full US support for and assistance with Poland’s investigation,” the White House said after the pair spoke.

NATO allies are investigating unconfirmed reports the explosion was caused by stray Russian missiles.

12:02am: UK ‘urgently’ looking into reports of missiles landing in Poland 

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a tweet on Tuesday said his country was urgently looking into reports of a missile strike in Poland and will support allies as they establish what happened.

“We are also coordinating with our international partners, including NATO,” Sunak said.

11:33pm: Kremlin spokesman says he has no information on incident in Poland

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday he had no information on an explosion in Poland.

“Unfortunately, I have no information on this,” Peskov said in response to a question from Reuters.

The Russian defence ministry denied that Russian missiles had hit Poland.

02:17

10:47pm: EU chief calls for meeting of alliance leaders at G20 over Poland

EU chief Charles Michel has said he will call an emergency meeting of EU leaders at the G20 summit in Bali.

In a tweet posted shortly after speaking with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Michel said he assured the Polish leader of the EU’s support.

“Just spoke with [Mateusz Morawiecki]. Assured him of full EU unity and solidarity in support of Poland. I will propose a coordination meeting on Wednesday with EU leaders attending G20 here in Bali,” Michel tweeted. 

10:43pm: Biden talks to Polish counterpart

Polish President Andrzej Duda is now talking to his US counterpart Joe Biden, the head of Poland’s National Security Bureau, Jacek Siewiera, has said in a tweet.

10:30pm: NATO chief says ‘important all facts established’ over Poland ‘explosion’

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has spoken to Polish President Andrzej Duda and has said the alliance is monitoring the situation.

It was important to find out the facts about what caused a deadly “explosion” in Poland, said Stoltenberg.

“Spoke with President Duda about the explosion in Poland. I offered my condolences for the loss of life. NATO is monitoring the situation and Allies are closely consulting. Important that all facts are established,” Stoltenberg tweeted. 

10:20pm: Poland verifying if NATO Article 4 needs to be activated: spokesman

Poland is verifying if it needs to activate Article 4 of the NATO military alliance treaty, Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller has told reporters.

Article 4 calls for all NATO members to consult together if a member state feels threatened by another country or a terrorist organisation. The 30 member states then start formal consultations at the request of the threatened member. 

Article 4 does not, however, mean that there will be direct pressure on the alliance to act.

This consultation mechanism has been triggered several times in NATO’s history.

Muller also said Poland was increasing the readiness of some military units.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)