An emergency meeting of the National Security Council in Poland, a Defense Council in Hungary, a telephone conversation between the Polish and American presidents… And, above all, the risk of direct NATO involvement in the face of Moscow and a major escalation in the war in Ukraine. The missile launch that hit the Polish village of Przewodów on Tuesday afternoon, about six kilometers from the Ukrainian border, killing two people, triggered a wave of reactions and concerns on Tuesday evening.
It all started around 9 p.m., when Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced the convening of an emergency meeting of the National Security Council, while Washington said it was examining press reports that two Russian missiles allegedly “hit a place in Poland or on the border with Ukraine”. At the same time, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is also convening a Defense Council “in response to the missile that hit the territory of Poland”, as announced by his spokesman Zoltan Kovacs on Twitter.
Emmanuel Macron also reacts. From Indonesia, where he is for a G20 summit, the President of the Republic reports having met overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday with the Polish Prime Minister and having offered “French support” to Poland .
Suspicion first fell on Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is quick to accuse Moscow of firing the missiles at Poland and calls the alleged attack “a very significant escalation”. But Russia quickly denies being responsible and calls these accusations “provocations”. “No strikes were carried out on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish border” by the Russian army, the Ministry of Defense said on its Telegram account. Suspicions are reinforced when the Polish Foreign Ministry clarifies overnight that a “Russian-made projectile” has reached the territory of its country.
Tuesday evening, again, the drama raised fears that NATO was drawn into the conflict in Ukraine, Poland being protected by a collective defense commitment from the Atlantic Alliance. But after a period of questioning, Warsaw and Washington exonerate Moscow. Overnight, US President Joe Biden considers it “improbable” that the missile was launched from Russia. Then Wednesday noon, Polish President Andrzej Duda considers “highly probable” that the missile comes from the Ukrainian missile defense. “There is no indication that this was an intentional attack on Poland,” he told reporters. “It is” probably an unfortunate accident, alas “, he adds.
Nearly 10 million Ukrainians without electricity
The missile overshadowed another major event in the Ukrainian conflict on Tuesday: the massive strikes on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, carried out at the same time by Russia, leaving millions of homes without electricity. Contrary to the dramatic incident in Poland, these Russian strikes provoked little reaction from the international community.
Two residential buildings in kyiv were hit on Tuesday afternoon by a missile “attack” attributed to Russia, the authorities initially announced. Power cuts are underway in several regions of Ukraine following several strikes. “At least” half of the inhabitants of kyiv are currently without electricity following “a massive attack of missiles” Russian, reveals the mayor of the Ukrainian capital, Vitaly Klitschko, who counts at least three Russian missiles on residential buildings . In kyiv, these strikes kill at least one person. Russia, however, said on Wednesday that it had not carried out any strikes on kyiv the day before, and that the destruction observed in the Ukrainian capital was caused by the Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense.
In Lviv (west), Tuesday afternoon, the metro is notably “at a standstill”, indicates on Telegram the mayor Andriï Sadovy. Part of the city of Kharkiv (north-east) also suffered a power cut, according to the town hall. The situation of the electricity network is then “critical” in Ukraine, indicates on Telegram the deputy head of the presidency, Kyrylo Tymoshenko. In total, more than seven million Ukrainian homes are without electricity, the Presidency of Ukraine said late afternoon, after 15 energy facilities across Ukraine were damaged. Several power cuts are also recorded in Moldova after these Russian strikes in neighboring Ukraine, announce the Moldovan authorities.
They also cause the automatic shutdown of reactors in two nuclear power plants in Ukraine, advance Tuesday evening Volodymyr Zelensky, stressing at that time that “about ten million Ukrainians are without electricity”. Kyiv immediately calls on G20 countries to put pressure on Moscow in response. The Russian strikes are “a slap in the face to the G20”, believes the Ukrainian president.
More than 90 Russian missiles fired according to kyiv
The cities of Ukraine affected Tuesday by multiple Russian strikes gradually regained electricity overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday and then Wednesday morning. According to the deputy head of the presidency, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, eight of the fifteen regions that experienced major power cuts have regained electricity. In kyiv, “the power supply to essential infrastructure has been restored”, indicates the head of the military administration of the Ukrainian capital, Serguiï Popko.
According to a morning report from the Ukrainian army, the Russians on Tuesday fired “more than 90 Kh-101 and Kalibr missiles and more than ten kamikaze drones” including Iranian Shahed-136s. Moscow for its part affirmed on Wednesday that it had destroyed all its targets, indicating that it had targeted “the military command system of Ukraine and the energy installations linked to it”.
At the same time, regional governor Oleksiï Kouleba warned that the coming week will be “difficult” for the inhabitants of the Kyiv region. “The destruction is significant,” he warns in a video posted on Telegram, despite the work “all night by electricians and all the necessary services” to repair the affected infrastructure. According to him, “this situation will continue next week”. “We anticipate the coming week to be quite difficult, as it is expected that (…) temperatures will drop to -10°C.”