UPDATE 2 - Poles call for calm after 2 killed in suspected missile attack in eastern Poland

REVISES HEADLINE, ADDS REMARKS FROM POLISH GENERAL, OPPOSITION PARTY

By Jo Harper

WARSAW (AA) – Poles have called for calm to avoid being dragged into a conflict after two people died in explosions in the village of Przewodow, a few kilometers from Poland’s border with Ukraine.

“I say with great conviction that these were stray missiles that fell on our territory,” General Mieczyslaw Bieniek told commercial television channel TVN24.

“On the other side of the border is a railway junction. Perhaps this is what they were aiming at,” Bieniek said.

Radio Lublin reported that emergency services and representatives of the army are working at a farm’s grain drying site where the explosion occurred around 3.40 p.m. local time.

Police did not give the reasons for the explosion.

Poland has been one of the most vociferous advocates of arming and supporting Ukraine against Russia. There is a cross-party consensus that Poland’s future relations with Russia hinge fundamentally on the outcome of the conflict in Ukraine.

“In an emergency, regardless of internal disputes and differences, we must all be united and in solidarity. We will be together in this difficult moment,” said Donald Tusk, leader of the Polish opposition party Civic Platform (PO).

If confirmed, this would be the first time someone has been killed on NATO territory as the result of a Russian strike. All NATO members are obliged to protect and defend every part of the alliance’s territory under Articles 4 and 5 of the alliance’s treaty.

A US intelligence official said the missiles were Russian, according to AP. According to unconfirmed information reported in the Polish media, two variants are being checked: one, that the Ukrainian military shot down a missile and it changed course, and two, there was a Russian programming error.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense posted a statement on its Telegram account saying this is "a deliberate provocation in order to escalate the situation."

"No strikes were made against targets near the Ukrainian-Polish state border by Russian means of destruction," the statement said.

The situation is critical after a recent attack by Russian forces on energy infrastructure facilities in Ukraine. Some of the missiles hit the western part of the country, close to the border with Poland. The Russians attacked Kovel in Volhynia. The city, which is located about 65 kilometers (40 miles) from the Polish-Ukrainian border, is without electricity. The mayor of the city appealed to residents to stay in shelters because the danger of attack was very high.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki convened the Committee of the Council of Ministers for National Security and Defense Matters as a matter of urgency, said government spokesman Piotr Müller.

President Andrzej Duda is also at the meeting, alongside the head of the Ministry of Interior and Administration Mariusz Kaminski, head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zbigniew Rau and Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro, as well as the operational commander of the Armed Forces branches and the chief commander of the police.

Warsaw has invested heavily in its relations with the US, some believing often at the expense of good relations with Berlin, Paris and Brussels.

Warsaw wants a permanent NATO base in Poland and a shifting of troops from Germany to the eastern border of the European Union.

There have been several unresolved issues related to alleged Russian interference in Polish domestic politics since at least 2014. The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party still believes the Russians were responsible for a 2010 plane crash in Russia that killed around 100 senior Polish public figures, including then-President Lech Kaczynski, en route to commemorating the 1940 Katyn massacre of Polish POWs held by the NKVD.