China urges calm as tensions rise over missile strike in Poland

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – China on Wednesday called for "calm" and caution in escalating tensions after a missile landed inside eastern Poland, killing two people.

“Under the current circumstances, all parties concerned should stay calm and exercise restraint and avoid the escalation of tension,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said.

Mao was responding to reports of a missile strike in the eastern Polish village of Przewodow, which is just a few kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

The explosion occurred 500-600 meters from a primary school, killing two people. The area surrounding the explosion site was cordoned off soon after the incident.

“China’s position on the Ukraine issue is consistent and clear. The pressing priority is to have dialogue and negotiation and peacefully resolve the crisis,” she said of Russia's war on Ukraine, which began in late February of this year.

Earlier, Polish President Andrzej Duda said at the moment there is “no clear evidence” of who fired the rocket that landed on Polish territory.

“We know that there were Russian missile attacks on Ukraine practically all day, but we do not have any clear evidence at the moment on who fired the rocket. An investigation is still underway,” he said.

“Most likely it was a rocket of Russian production, but all this is still under investigation,” he added.

Moscow has denied firing any missiles into Poland.

“Statements about Russian missiles falling in the Polish settlement of Przewodow are a deliberate provocation with the aim of destabilizing the situation,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.

After their initial findings, US officials, however, have suggested that the missile that hit Poland was fired by Ukrainian forces in response to an incoming Russian missile.

Military experts and prosecutors are on the scene, according to Polish President Duda, who welcomed US President Joe Biden's offer to send US experts to join Polish teams.

He said he is in touch with NATO allies and has spoken with Biden, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz by phone.

NATO ambassadors are meeting Wednesday in Brussels to discuss the missile that killed two people on the territory of alliance member Poland.​​​​​​​